


An Odd Family Tree

by Cheeky_The_Monkey



Series: FitzSimmons Family [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Spoilers, F/M, Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Minor Lance Hunter/Bobbi Morse, Protective Jemma Simmons, Protective Leo Fitz, baby deke, fitzsimmons family, some of the other team members may or may not appear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:14:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 29,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25898782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cheeky_The_Monkey/pseuds/Cheeky_The_Monkey
Summary: A series of snippets from the lives of the FitzSimmons family, set post 7x13.Fitz snorted. “Are we sure that soulmates would be able to create aDeke?”All of a sudden, the couple froze. They hadn’t said that name aloud in years. It was like an unspoken agreement between them, that they would both lock that name and the memories associated with it in the deepest, darkest corner of their hearts. It stayed that way for just over twenty years. They had moved on and had tried to forget.The worst part was that theyhadforgotten, and they knew that, from this moment on, they would never be able to forgive themselves.Also, the series of events that lead up to the birth of their grandson.
Relationships: Alya Fitz-Simmons/Owen Shaw, Deke Shaw & Jemma Simmons, Leo Fitz & Deke Shaw, Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons
Series: FitzSimmons Family [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1879441
Comments: 279
Kudos: 271





	1. Owen

It’s Fitz that first bumps into Owen. Obviously he doesn’t recognise him, but he immediately stands out since there aren’t that many Americans in Inverness. 

He’s arguing with the shop lady, of all things.

“Hey, that’s not fair!” The man exclaimed from his position in front of him in the queue. “If you put vegetables outside the store, then someone might get the wrong idea! That someone being me!”

There was something strangely familiar about his tone, but Fitz couldn’t quite place it.

“Look lad,” sighed the nice shop lady, “any other time I would give you the benefit of the doubt. But I’m having a bad day and I really don’t want to deal with bloody Americans right now.”

That’s when Fitz decided to step in, having some experience with bloody Americans. “Is there a problem, Rachel?”

He tried to look intimidating, but he knew he was getting older and that he’d let himself go quite a lot since Alya didn’t require him to constantly play with her. And that had been a good decade or so.

“Oh, Leopold.” Fitz winced at the name. “Would you mind? I’ve had a rough day.”

“Of course.” He answered, because you couldn’t say no to Rachel the shop lady. He glared at the young American and raised his finger like he used to do with Alya. “You come with me, outside, _now.”_

To his credit, the guy looked kind of sheepish as he followed him outside of the little shop.

“I’m sorry. I really didn’t know.” He paused. “Well maybe I had a _feeling_ but I thought I might get away with it.”

Fitz sighed. “At least you’re honest, but trying to take advantage of nice Scottish shop ladies? Really, son?”

“Well I’m sorry _Leopold._ At least you can tell the guys at bingo that you tried to defend her.” The lad paused again. “I’m sorry that was rude.”

“That’s okay,” Fitz replied, grateful that there were at least some manners left in the world. He outstretched his hand. “Call me Fitz.”

The guy shook his hand with a surprisingly strong grip. “Owen. Owen Shaw.”

And that’s when it hit Fitz like a truck. A truck that, after hitting him, decided to come back and run over him a second time. And then the driver decided to hop out and jump on his mangled body just to make sure he felt something. And boy, did he feel it.

“Shaw?” He managed to whisper, his throat tight and his face as white as a sheet.

“Yeah.” The young man affirmed, and only then did Fitz bother to take a good look at him. He was relatively tall, slender, and had a mop of scruffy dirty-blond hair on his head that was mostly hidden by a cap. He had a sorry excuse for a beard that was really nothing more than long stubble. Honestly, now that he was looking and from what he could remember, he could see the resemblance.

And that's when Fitz went into panic mode, because the universe was miraculously being kind to him, and he didn't want to risk passing up this opportunity.

"Listen, are you here with anyone?" He asked suddenly.

"What, you mean like in Inverness?" Fitz nodded. "Oh uh… nah, my parents are across the pond. My dad's a Brit and told me to go explore good old In-ger-land. I felt like pissing him off so I came to find the Loch Ness Monster instead."

It was at that moment that Fitz realised that the universe had never actually been kind to him. He felt strangely comforted by that fact.

"Well if you're feeling lonely here, why don't you come and have dinner at my house?" He offered, immediately regretting his decision but knowing that Jemma would kill him if he didn't give him a chance. "It's just me, my wife, and my daughter and we'd love to have you. Keep you company and tell you the best tourist sites and stuff."

Owen looked skeptical. "Is being this forward a Scottish thing, or..?"

Fitz put on his sweetest smile. "Yes, absolutely." It was _not_ a Scottish thing, but if it fooled this goon then it was worth the lie. He hoped it would be enough.

"Okay in that case, sure! I've got nothing better to do tonight."

Fitz felt his tense body relax. Was he really that worried about setting his daughter up with this dude?

"Cool." He said. "Come with me then."

* * *

As soon as he returned home he rushed into the kitchen to find Jemma peering out of the window at Owen, who was busy admiring the many flowers in their front garden.

“Who’s that?” She asked, nodding towards the man in the garden. 

Fitz took in a deep, shaky breath. His eyes wide, he gently took the carrot and peeler from his skeptical wife’s beautiful hands and put them on the marble counter so that he could put his hands in hers.

“That’s Owen. I invited him round for dinner.”

Jemma let out a scoff of disbelief. “Since when are you being social? We don’t know him, and Alya’s never mentioned an Owen.” Her face then hardened and she pulled her hands back so she could place them on her hips. “Are you trying to set up our daughter with a stranger? Because Alya’s old enough to find someone herself, and we can’t look after her forever.”

Trying to calm his nerves, Fitz flapped his arms around as if they would convey what he was trying to say. Sadly, in this case, they didn’t and he would have to actually say what he was simultaneously excited for and dreading.

“No, Jemma, you don’t understand. Th-This is Owen Shaw.”

A beat. Then Jemma gasped.

“Shaw?” She whispered, her face paling. “As in… _Shaw,_ Shaw?”

“ _Shaw,_ Shaw.”

And then his wife’s eyes steeled with a determination that he had grown so accustomed to, yet never failed to impress and scare him. She grabbed him by the arm and started to march towards the front door, yelling: “ALYA!”

She then leaned into a speechless Fitz’s ear and whispered “Come on, that man is marrying our daughter.”

“Uh, hi Mrs Fitz?” Owen asked as Jemma dragged him into the garden, smiling a smile that was equal parts friendly and threatening. “I’m Owen. Your husband invited me over, I hope that’s not a problem?”

“Not at all! And please, it’s Jemma.” She said. “The casserole might take another twenty minutes though, so why don’t you go and talk to my daughter? She’s about your age, and I think you two would get on rather well.”

Fitz cringed. His wife was very subtle.

As if on cue, Alya emerged from the front door. “You called, Mum?” Then, after catching sight of the stranger in their garden, “who’s this?”

He sighed. “This is-”

“I’m Owen.” Owen interrupted, leaping towards her. “I’m travelling the world and got called over by your Dad.”

Fitz turned to look at Jemma, mouth gaping open. Jemma whacked him on his arm.

“I’m Alya. I’m a marine biologist.”

Owen’s face lit up. “Oh, like a scientist? That’s so cool! Have you seen the Loch Ness Monster?”

Alya laughed nervously, as unsure as her parents at whether he was being serious or not. 

“Alya, why don’t you take Owen inside?” Jemma asked, somehow managing to steer the conversation away from awkwardness. “Keep him company while your Dad and I make dinner.”

“You don’t need two people to make a casserole-” Fitz tried to mumble in protest, but he only received another playful whack on the arm for his troubles.

Their daughter skillfully managed to hide a sigh. “Sure, Mum. This way, Owen.”

Once the pair were out of sight, Jemma immediately turned to Fitz. “Where did you find him?!” She quietly exclaimed.

Fitz shrugged. “He was bothering Rachel the shop lady, and then he told me his name and I panicked and brought him home.” He paused as the adrenaline of first hearing the name wore off and doubt started to softly trickle into his brain. “Oh god, should I have left it alone? What if they were supposed to meet by themselves and I’ve screwed everything up? I-”

Jemma interrupted his rant with a gentle hug. 

“Don’t worry,” she assured, softly squeezing his shoulders, “if I’m being honest I’d given up hope that we would ever meet him since the world isn’t ending.”

“Oh yeah, I’d forgotten about that.”

She kissed his cheek. “You might’ve just introduced Alya to her soulmate.”

Fitz snorted. “Are we sure that soulmates would be able to create _Deke?”_

All of a sudden, the couple froze. They hadn’t said that name aloud in years. It was like an unspoken agreement between them, that they would both lock that name and the memories associated with it in the deepest, darkest corner of their hearts. It stayed that way for just over twenty years. They had moved on and had tried to forget.

The worst part was that they _had_ forgotten, and they knew that, from this moment on, they would never be able to forgive themselves.

Jemma sniffed, her eyes beginning to well up with tears, and Fitz pulled her close. They could worry about Owen and the casserole later. For now, they needed to mourn their grandson.


	2. Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya has a confession to make.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> psst, alya's characterisation is a mixture of fitzsimmons (mostly jemma) with a hint of myself. because i just so happen to share a name with her.

“Hey Mum, can I ask you something?”

Jemma put down her old edition of The Fault In Our Stars (it gets her every time) and removed her reading glasses so that she could smile at her daughter. “Of course! What’s the matter?”

Alya hesitated as she sat down beside her on the bed, and took her mother’s hand in her own. “When you first met Dad… was it love at first sight? Like, did you think that you would end up spending the rest of your life with him?”

Hundreds of memories flooded her mind at once. Memories of first meeting nervous Leo Fitz in the Academy. Late-night study sessions in one of their rooms, keeping each other company and quickly becoming inseparable. Despite this, they’d been best friends for years and she hadn’t ever considered Fitz as anything but a platonic partner. Once they’d joined Coulson’s team though…

“No,” she answered honestly, “I didn’t. But believe me, there’ll come a time when the moment’s just right and you’ll just _know_ that you’re ready.”

Alya looked lost in thought. 

“Why are you asking?” said Jemma.

“I think-” Alya snuggled up closer to her mother and mumbled- “I think I might be falling in love with Owen.”

Jemma felt her heart stop. After their initial meeting with Owen, Alya had politely offered to show him the hidden beauty spots in and around Inverness during his stay... with only a _little_ nudge from her parents. When Owen left for America with his number, Alya had turned to look at them with the biggest grin on her face. 

The pair had been in touch ever since, to the point where it’d become a habit for them to text each other daily, not to mention frequent video calls. Whenever she or Fitz overheard her talking to him, they would silently rush to tell the other.

So to have her daughter actually falling in love with him…

“Are you sure?” She blurted out. “He’s so… _weird.”_

Future grandchildren aside, Owen was a bumbling and reckless young man and Jemma couldn’t restrain that motherly instinct telling her that her daughter could do so much better.

“And Dad isn’t?” Alya countered, and the silence that followed confirmed that she’d won that conversation. 

Jemma planted a kiss on her daughter’s forehead. “I love you sweetie, and your Dad and I just want what’s best for you. We might not have had the most traditional love story, but love is a _huge_ commitment.” She smiled wistfully. “Trust me, I know that better than anyone.”

Alya smiled with her, having heard many of her parents’ former SHIELD stories. “I guess you’re right. But you know I’ve dated guys before, but this is the first time I felt a proper spark. Owen said he’s gonna come visit next month and I… I think I knew. He asked me if I’d like to go to dinner with him the night he arrives. I haven’t answered yet.”

“Well,” said Jemma, playfully shoving Alya off the bed, “you’d better go and tell him it’s a date.”

With a grateful smile gracing her lips, Alya began to walk towards the door. “Oh, just one more thing.” She said.

“What is it, dear?”

She sighed. “Can you tell Dad? He’s always been protective and you’re better at breaking news to him than I am.”

“Of course I will.” Jemma replied, and Alya finally left the room.

One she heard Alya’s creaky bedroom door close, she sat up straight on the bed. 

“FITZ! Come here!”

It didn’t take long for Fitz to come running to her call. Well, running as in: ‘slightly-faster-than-a-casual-stroll’.

“Yeah?” He asked from the doorway.

Jemma crossed her arms. “Shut the door.”

Fitz obeyed.

“Would you like to tell me _who_ exactly is paying for Owen’s plane ticket?”

He looked down at her sheepishly. “In my defense, he said he was planning to come already and he promised he wouldn’t tell her.”

Jemma sighed. “We promised we wouldn’t interfere! We’re not going to control her life, even with this! The situation is different, she might find someone better!”

She had to admit that she was enjoying teasing him. It was cruel, yes, but he did go back on their promise.

“Jemma, I’m so sorry.” He tried to apologise desperately. “I shouldn’t have bought those stupid tickets, I-”

“Fitz.” She said softly. “Alya loves him.”

His face lit up.

“What?”

“She loves him.” Jemma repeated. “She told me just now.”

It took a moment for him to process this, but once he did, Fitz began to laugh triumphantly.

_“Take that universe!”_ He yelled to no-one in particular. “That’s one for FitzSimmons right there! You think that you can ruin our lives, but our little monkey has fallen in love!” 

He then turned back to Jemma with bright eyes. “We should celebrate.” He began to race out of the room.

“Wait!” She called, causing him to comically skid in his tracks. “First of all…”

He blushed, dragged himself back towards the bed, sat on it, and kissed her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fitz "accidentally" forgot to mention the actual cost of the ticket


	3. First Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FitzSimmons struggle to understand that their daughter isn't a little girl anymore.

“How about this one?” Jemma asked, tossing a silky blue dress on top of the woman on the bed. “Oooh, or this one!” A red one was added to the pile.

“Mum, stop it!” Alya moaned, sitting up. “I don’t want to wear a dress this time. And if I did, I’m perfectly capable of choosing one myself.”

Jemma stopped shuffling through Alya’s wardrobe in order to glare at her daughter. “I am your mother and while you live in this house I have permission to dress you up sometimes!” She resumed her searching. “Besides, I can’t fit into any of these lovely dresses then I want my daughter to make the most of them.”

Alya laughed sadly. “I can hardly fit into them either-”

“Shush!” Jemma interrupted. “You’re beautiful, and these all fit you just fine. If you say anything negative again, I’ll tell Uncle Daniel.”

With a groan, Alya flopped backwards onto the pillow. Uncle Dan was _the best_ back when she was little because he never let anyone tell her off, even if she deserved it- and she knew she deserved it. He was super old fashioned, but that unique charm soon made him her favourite uncle. Sadly, his protectiveness also meant that she would get a two-hour lecture about self-love whenever something self-deprecating slipped out in their conversations. 

“You know,” she began, “I’ve been on loads of other dates and you didn’t make a big deal out of them. You and Dad act really weird whenever I talk about Owen. It’s kinda freaky.”

“What?” said Jemma. “Pshht, no!”

“Mum, you’re a terrible liar.”

“Tell me about it.” Fitz said, walking into the room with a worn polaroid camera. “This used to be my mum’s,” he explained, “and I thought we could take some pictures before you left, since it’s a big day and all.”

“Dad, not you too!” whined Alya. “Seriously, what’s the deal with you guys today?”

“Nothing.” They said simultaneously.

“...when you sync up it means it’s definitely not nothing.”

With a sigh, Jemma walked towards Fitz and slipped her arm around his waist. “We just think that Owen is a really good match for you, that’s all.”

“Really?” Asked Alya. “Because I get the impression that Dad hates him.”

Jemma shot Fitz a questioning look. Fitz just shrugged.

“What? He’s a sappy moron that keeps on flirting with my daughter. I’m allowed to hate him. And you’re forgetting that _I_ was the one that-”

His sentence was cut off by a loud hiss as his wife elbowed him in the side.

“Leave your father alone,” his wife smiled through gritted teeth, ignoring his wince, “that’s just his way of showing love.”

Fitz grumbled something inaudible.

“Well, I’m going to wear something I picked out the other week.” Announced Alya, hopping off the bed. “And before you ask- no Mum, I don’t need your help. I can handle it. And no, Dad, you don’t need to take a picture with that ancient camera, I’ll take a selfie before I go. As much as I’d like it too, knowing my luck with love it’s probably not going to last with Owen anyway.”

As she left the room, Fitz turned to look at Jemma, his eyes wide with fear.

“No, no she has a point.” He said. “What if it doesn’t work out with Owen? What if we’ve gone too far?”

“I thought you hated that sappy moron?” Jemma teased, but Fitz could tell that she was equally worried.

She linked arms with him. “We can worry about that once our daughter comes back from this date.”

“She’s too young.” Fitz said without hesitation.

“She’s twenty-nine, dear.” 

“No she’s not. She’s twenty-three.”

“She’s twenty-nine.” Jemma repeated quietly. They’d had this conversation every time Alya went on a date. “I used to feel so guilty for encouraging her work so much because she missed out on chances of love. But now that she’s met Shaw… I don’t know, I feel like it’s fate.”

Fitz’s jaw slowly dropped. He hadn’t been listening. He was still trying to process how old their daughter was. “Oh god… time flies.”

Jemma smiled at him sadly and began to rub his arm in a soothing gesture. 

“I know dear, I know.”

* * *

Though Alya always looked like a beautiful princess in their eyes, once she’d dressed (in _her own_ choice of outfit) and presented herself in front of her parents, she rendered them speechless.

She wore a full-sleeved white blouse that was tucked into a long patterned maroon skirt. She wore slender silver earrings that curled around tiny crystals, and the only makeup on her face was a hint of lipstick. She’d never been that interested in makeup, so the tiny effort told so much to her parents. Her usually slightly scruffy brown hair was curled and fell down to just below her shoulders.

“Wh- y-you-” Every single word Fitz tried to say got caught in his throat, so Jemma stepped in.

“You look stunning!” She exclaimed, hurrying over to her daughter’s side to fuss over her in a way that her old SHIELD teammates described as ‘like a mom straight out of the movies’.

Fitz snapped out of trace. “There is no way I’m letting you leave without taking a picture with my camera.”

Alya sighed cheekily, a blush rising to her cheeks. “Fine. Just this once, Dad.”

He rushed over to kiss her hand. “Of course, princess.”

“Dad, stop it!” She giggled, and both of her parents smiled at her warmly.

The doorbell rang not long after, and Alya’s flustered expression quickly turned into one of nervousness. “I haven’t been on a date in so long.” She muttered to herself. “What if I screw this up? Can I bail out yet?”

“You’ll be fine.” Jemma assured.

“Yeah, you will.” Fitz agreed. “As long as you make sure he keeps his grubby hands to himself and make sure that he actually pays for his food and that he doesn’t take advantage of your-”

“Okay, bye Dad!” Alya said as she rushed out of the door before her father could complete his sentence. Through the door, they could hear two voices squealing in excitement. 

Jemma glared at her husband, and Fitz unmuted himself. 

“...I was going to say her genius brain.”

They both broke out into laughter.

Their princess might be nearing her thirties, but she was still their little monkey at heart and they had no doubt in their minds that she always would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *fitz voice* bloody americans


	4. Independence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FitzSimmons don't like Owen taking their daughter away from them.

“Hey there Mrs F!”

Owen waved at her through the kitchen window. Jemma tried not to roll her eyes. 

“Hello, Owen.” She said as cheerfully as she could in an attempt to mask her exasperation. “What brings you here for the fourth time today?”

Owen flashed his trademark grin that seemed to have some sort of hypnotic effect on her daughter. “I’ve got something to tell Alya.”

“Something you couldn’t have told her last time?”

“It’s important.” Owen insisted. “Please?”

Though she’d never admit it to her husband (who would undoubtedly flaunt it in her face), she was struggling to tolerate Owen Shaw too. At first, he’d seemed like a sweet young man; a little younger than Alya but still showing signs of strong, undying love. 

However, since he’d found a job in Inverness he’d been visiting constantly and stealing her daughter away on various mysterious trips. And normally, she wouldn’t have a problem with that, except that he also stole away her time at home too.

That, and the fact that Fitz was right: he was a moron. A good-hearted moron, but a moron nonetheless.

“Fine.” She answered reluctantly. “But this is the last time, alright?”

Her words fell upon deaf ears as Owen was already racing towards the front door.

“ALYA!” He called, kicking off his shoes. “Alya guess what?!”

Alya poked her head out of the living room, beaming. “Back again? What’s wrong?”

There was a loud clanking noise coming from further inside the house, followed by a rather loud swear and Fitz’s voice shouting _“GET OUTTA HERE YOU BLOODY YANK!”_

Everyone in the house ignored this.

“So..?” Alya prompted.

“So,” Owen declared, taking her hands in his, “I just bought two tickets to Barcelona!”

A wide smile began to crack onto her face. “What- really? You’re being serious?”

Owen wore his own goofy grin. “You bet! Booked a bunch of fun stuff to do too, so it’ll be really embarrassing for me if you don’t agree to come, haha.”

His expression was earnest, and Alya playfully slapped his arm. “Of course I’ll go, silly!”

“Go where?” Asked Jemma, emerging into the hallway.

Owen jumped. “O-Oh, Mrs Fitz-Simmons…”

Jemma felt her eye twitch at the fact that now he chose to address her properly. When he wanted something. 

“Go on then, where are you going?” Jemma repeated sternly.

“W-Well, uh…”

“ _Actually,_ Mum,” Alya stepped in, “Owen’s taking me to Barcelona for my birthday.”

And that’s when Jemma couldn’t stand it anymore.

She turned on her heel and stormed away towards the living room with only a small motion for Alya to follow, which she did, leaving a very dumbfounded Owen to wonder what he’d done to make her snap.

“Mum!” Hissed an annoyed Alya once the door was shut behind them. “What are you doing?!”

“Hey, if you’re going to yell can you try and keep it down, I’m watching football.” Fitz said from the sofa without taking his eyes off the TV. Both of his hands were gripping onto a beer bottle tightly- that’s how you could tell that it was a close game. Alya made the most of the distraction opportunity.

“Who’s winning?”

Jemma snapped her fingers. “Excuse me, young lady, I need to talk to you.”

“Nice try, princess.”

“Thanks Dad.”

Placing her hands on her hips, Jemma straightened her posture. It was an old habit of trying to assert dominance over Alya, who she knew was probably far smarter than either herself or Fitz. “You made other birthday plans?” She asked. “What about our beach picnic?”

Alya mimicked her mother’s pose. “What about my own life?”

Jemma gasped.

“Listen Mum, you and Dad aren’t exactly subtle when it comes to Owen, and I appreciate that at least _you_ make an effort-” she glared at her oblivious father- “but things are really working out with him so far. I really love him and I can tell he loves me too. And we can always go to the beach next year! This year, I want to go to Barcelona with him.”

She relaxed herself to gauge her mother’s reaction. Jemma was still stiff.

“And look,” Alya continued, “I promise that after that I’ll spend a lot more time with you.”

Jemma finally relaxed as well. “Alright, sweetie. It’s your birthday, and if you want Owen to take you to Barcelone then I won’t stop him. I just don’t want you to get your heart bro-”

“OWEN’S TAKING HER _WHERE?!”_

When had the TV been turned off?

“Barcelona.” Jemma smiled meekly.

“No he’s bloody not.” Fitz grumbled, pushing himself to his feet. “I’m gonna go tell that wan-”

“Dad!” Alya called, causing Fitz to stop. “Please. It’s just one year, and it’ll count as my present. Please.”

It took him a moment, but soon Fitz sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “I can’t say no to you, princess.”

Alya smiled triumphantly. She had been counting on it.

“Just answer me this,” he said, “where the hell is he getting his money from? Surely a waiter doesn’t earn enough for an, ugh... _romantic_ trip to Barcelona.”

In truth, Alya didn’t know. She knew it was something to do with his family, but Owen had always been very secretive when it came to his family. It was the only thing she doubted about him.

“His parents are pretty rich.” She lied.

“Uh huh.”

“Soooo is it still a yes?” 

All three faces turned to see the man himself hanging out of the doorway. Fitz and Jemma simultaneously glared at him. Alya chuckled. 

“Yes. Whatever my parents say, it's still yes."


	5. Permission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Owen asks for Fitz's blessing to propose to Alya.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey there, i hope you're enjoying this fic!  
> just a quick promo for my tumblr blogs:  
> @alittlesliceofcucumber for aos related posts  
> @the-hidden-writer for fics!

Leo Fitz loved football. It was his thing. He used to play in the local field with a bunch of other boys when he was little- that’s before he started to spend every free hour of every day engineering. So about eleven years old then. And since they’d retired he’d taken a huge step back from engineering and fallen back with his first love. Seriously, if anyone asked him a simple question about football he would probably ramble about it for at least two hours.

“Knock knock!”

Oh, and another thing about football: _he did not like getting interrupted._

He adjusted his position to sit up on the sofa. “If that’s anyone that’s not called Owen then come in!” 

Of course, it was Owen who entered.

“Hi Mr Fitz-Simmons.” He greeted, somewhat meekly.

Fitz didn’t respond.

“Oh hey, you’re watching soccer. Can I join you?”

“Not if you call it soccer.” Fitz grumbled. Owen just laughed and sat next to him anyway.

If there was one thing that Fitz had learnt about Owen over the year of him dating Alya, it was that he could not shut up. And that was not an exaggeration. Fitz was pretty convinced that if the man went five minutes without saying something then he would quite possibly explode.

So it was unnerving to say the least when all he did was fidget next to him. He appeared to be concentrating on the screen, but when Fitz looked closely he could see that his eyes weren’t entirely focused.

He must’ve been deep in thought. Fitz didn’t even want to consider what the hell he was thinking about.

“So… you a big s- _football_ guy then?” Owen asked eventually, making Fitz actually sigh in relief.

“Yes.” Was his short reply.

“Cool.”

Uncomfortable silence. Fitz felt like the other man was plotting something. He did not like it.

Owen took a deep breath. “Hey-”

“You do know I don’t like you, right?”

Letting out a choked sort of laugh, Owen hung his head and said quietly: “Really? I hadn’t noticed.”

“You’ve got no common sense,” Fitz continued, “and half the time I genuinely can’t tell if you’re faking your stupidity or not.

_And I can never forgive you for taking my daughter away from me_ , Fitz doesn’t add.

“Look, I know you hate me.” Owen said, his voice still strangely quieter than usual.

It suddenly occurred to Fitz that Owen might be unwell. And even he, a cold-hearted miser according to Alya once, would feel guilty for insulting someone when they’re ill.

“Hate’s a strong word.” He told him. “I don’t hate you lad, but I think it would be crueler to lie and pretend to like you like Jemma does.”

Owen seemed to react at this, and Fitz wondered if he was really so dumb as to not realise that Jemma didn’t like him either.

“She doesn’t?” He asked, confirming Fitz’s theory.

And there was that guilty feeling again. “Well she definitely likes you more than I do. We love Alya with everything we have, and we only want the best for her. And whatever she says, I for one couldn’t care less if my daughter doesn’t end up with you. Now don’t you have somewhere better to be?”

Fitz realised a little too late that he’d phrased that wrong, and for once he actually hoped that Owen wouldn’t pick up on the subtext.

“I love her too, y’know.” Owen said dejectedly. “And I came here to ask you something. But I’m a little put off now if I’m honest…”

On-screen, it was half-time. Fitz tried to relay the fact that Owen was ill over and over in his head to stop himself from punching him.

“If answering your question will make you go away, then sure. Ask away.” He said, taking a sip of his tea.

Owen took a deep breath and looked Fitz in the eyes. Fitz noticed for the first time just how bright, green, and _honest_ they were. 

“Will you give me your blessing to marry your daughter?”

He did not do a spit take. That never happened. But it was funny, for a second Fitz could have sworn Owen just said…

“What?”

“You heard me.” Owen said, and suddenly Fitz realised why Owen had sounded off. 

He’d been nervous- no, terrified of _him_. This entire time he’d been trying to muster as much confidence as he could. And the fact that he’d been scared meant that he respected him. 

And Fitz didn’t know how to feel. He felt like he’d just been shot in the heart but the pain hadn’t registered yet.

He coughed. “W-Well, you’ve got nerve, I’ll tell you that.” He did not wipe the liquid off his chin, because he did not do a spit take. “After I just told you how much I don’t like you.”

Owen laughed, a bit more menacing this time. “I hope you know that I’ll propose to her whatever you say. It’s just that you three are so close that I thought I’d ask for your blessing.”

The implications started to sink in. “Wait, you’re being serious?”

This man, this _hooligan_ , was asking to marry his little monkey. His princess. His universe. His Alya. The girl whose nappies he changed. The girl to whom he showed the stars. The girl who he tried to teach engineering to, but ended up taking after her mother and studying biology and becoming one of the leading experts in marine biology and was running an entire initiative to save the oceans.

The woman that had just turned thirty.

Ever since Owen, Alya had fought with him a lot more frequently. She would always defend him, telling her father that it was his fault that he didn’t just give him a chance to get to know him. Fitz didn’t change his stance. And maybe, Fitz thought, if he’d taken that chance, then he would be able to see Alya’s appeal in Owen. Her love for him hadn’t wavered, and any fights she’d had with Owen had all been resolved very quickly. Was it really only Fitz that felt so negatively towards him?

“Hey, um, before you answer let me say something.” Owen said. 

“I know I’m reckless and stupid. I get that from my parents. But when I’m standing next to literally _the smartest family on the planet_ , how can I not be? I think you think I’m ‘the worst’ (yes, I heard that) because of that, when in reality I’m just average. I was shocked when Alya loved me back, because she is the definition of a genius, and I’m just… me. I’m Owen. The guy nobody likes.”

Fitz listened on in silence, every word striking him as familiar.

_...Deke._

“And I tried so hard to impress you,” Owen continued, “even though you guys already know everything. It’s impossible to impress you. The one thing that impresses me is the fact that Alya still likes me after so long. So yeah, I understand if you say no, but I love your daughter and I’m actually pretty good at fighting so I’m willing to die for her. I’ve been told that I can be pretty selfish, and I agree, but not when it comes to Alya. She’s my everything.”

Wordlessly, Fitz switched off the TV. Football could come later. He didn’t know when his eyes had started to well up, but he knew that his vision was now blurry. He had to swallow the lump in his throat.

“You have my blessing.”

Owen nearly jumped out of his seat. “Wait, really?!”

Fitz’s breathing was shaky, and he held his head in his hands. “Yes.” He said, his voice muffled. “Now go before I change my mind.”

It was comical how quickly Owen raced out of the room.

Jemma walked in moments later.

“Darling what’s wrong? What did you say to Owen this time?”

“I told him to bugger off.” Fitz said, looking up to face his confused wife.

“Really? Is that-”

_“Jemma.”_ He interrupted, his voice breaking. “He asked for my blessing.”

Jemma’s face went through a whirlwind of emotions in a tiny amount of time like a silent movie. 

“O-Oh.” She said finally. “Did you..?”

“Yeah.” Said Fitz. “But Jemma, he sounded just like Deke.”

Both of them flinched at the name.

He sighed. “Is it bad that the main thing I remember was that I couldn’t stand him?”

“Yes, it is.” Jemma said, moving to sit next to her husband and rub his back soothingly. She was beginning to get choked up herself. “I remember that he was lovely. His memory is what lets me tolerate Owen.”

She wiped away the tears that threatened to fall from his eyes.

“I think you need to start at least tolerating him now, too.”

Fitz did the same for his wife.

“Yeah, I guess I’m gonna have to now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> plot twist: owen had that whole speech prepared


	6. Proposal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Owen proposes.

Alya did her best to keep smiling under her umbrella as the rain poured down from the cloudy skies. It wasn’t dramatic or deafening, it was just dull, grey, and wet. Something that was common in Scotland, so she usually wouldn’t have a problem with it.

No, what she had a problem with was the fact that today was the day that Owen chose to show off his bungee-jumping skills.

“Owen honey, it’s raining pretty hard. Are you sure it’s safe to do it in this weather?” She asked as the instructor clipped in his harness.

Owen just grinned at her. That grin melted her heart but also utterly infuriated her at the same time because the cheeky moron _knew_ he would get his way if he used it.

“The weather’s not ideal, but this one was very adamant about doing this today.” The instructor said, stepping away from her boyfriend to let him recklessly risk falling to his death.

The usual for him. Alya suspected that she would end up spending many afternoons on rainy cliffs in the future.

“You ready?” They asked as Owen began to jump up and down in an attempt to steel himself. 

“As I’ll ever be.” Owen replied. He then turned to Alya. “Babe listen, I want you to be standing right at the edge, okay? Well, not too close to the edge but close enough so you can see properly, alright?”

He looked nervous. Owen rarely ever looked nervous whenever he was in his adventure zone, so Alya couldn’t help but start to feel just a little scared.

“Alright.” She said, adjusting her umbrella to mask her worry. “Just be careful.”

Owen flashed that damn smile again, gave an excited thumbs up to the poor instructor that had been willing to work in the rain for him, and leapt off the cliff with a loud whoop.

Alya would be lying if she said she watched him fall. She’d always suffered from vertigo, and watching Owen disappear over the edge was bad enough.

It took a good few seconds before he bounced up into her line of sight again, looking somewhat dejected. Alya would have thought that the thrill of free-falling would satisfy any and all adrenaline needs.

A feeling of awkwardness rushed over her when the instructor gave her a terse smile as Owen was being reeled back up. She’d seen videos of him jumping from much higher places, so she was confused as to why he was so insistent that she should accompany him that day.

Once Owen was back up, he rushed over to give her a quick peck on the cheek before going to converse with the instructor. From what Alya could see and hear, they were pretty smug for some reason while Owen was practically begging for something or other.

_(“Please. I’ve got it this time. Just one more.”)_

Everything after that was pretty rushed; Alya didn’t even get a chance to ask why he was going again before he leapt off the cliff again (with an even louder whoop).

The instructor watched his descent before turning to her with a more genuine smile. “You might wanna step closer to the edge, there.”

Alya obeyed just in time to see Owen bounce back up with a small black box in his hand.

_“WILL YOU MARRY ME?!”_

His scream almost didn’t register. Shocked, Alya turned to the instructor who just shrugged. 

On Owen’s second bounce up, Alya risked looking over the edge to shout with a voice equally as loud:

_“YES!”_

* * *

“So… he proposed while bungee-jumping?” 

“Yeah, he did.”

Jemma sighed light-heartedly. She’d always imagined a fairytale-esque proposal for her daughter, and sadly, Owen’s didn’t quite live up to that dream.

“...Are you happy with that?” She asked gently.

Alya relaxed her shoulders and laid her head in her mother’s lap. Jemma instinctively began to stroke her hair.

“It’s not what I expected, but it’s pure Owen. I can’t imagine him doing it any other way.” She answered, staring up at her mother. “I just… I don’t know. It wasn’t as romantic or beautiful as I used to dream of.”

Ah. Like mother, like daughter.

“But you’re happy to marry him?”

“Of course!” Alya replied. “I bet you and Dad didn’t have a perfect proposal and you’re literally soulmates.”

Jemma smiled at the memory. “The alternate Fitz once claimed to me that he proposed when he was a space scavenger and I was a deaf slave serving drinks to aliens in the future. I proposed to him separately later. But your father proposed to me while we were being tortured in an alien mind prison.”

“...Okay, I really need to hear this story, Mum.”

“Maybe another time.” Jemma said, running her fingers through her daughter’s soft brown locks. “Maybe another time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> owen screwed up the first time, even after weeks of practice. the instructor is just happy to be rid of him.


	7. Preparation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FitzSimmons work on the wedding guest list.

“Are you sure putting the Coopers and the McGuires next to each other is a good idea?” Asked Jemma, impatiently tapping her clipboard with her pen.

Fitz pulled a pencil out of his mouth to answer. “Yeah, they can stand each other better than the Parkers, who can sit-” he drew a large circle around a particular table- “here. Right at the back.”

It was then that Alya poked her head around the corner and almost had a heart attack at the scene before her.

Her mother, the strict and polite Jemma Simmons, was sprawled on the dining table with a clipboard resting on her stomach. Her father, the grumpy and introverted Leo Fitz, was chewing on a pencil and had somehow set up a giant easel with what at first sight _looked_ like dangerous blueprints, but upon second glance were actually wedding plans. Once an engineer, always an engineer.

“If we have spare seats then we could always invite Mr Robertson?” Jemma suggested.

“Pshh no!” Alya exclaimed, walking into the room whilst also trying to avoid the many pieces of scrap paper littering the carpet. “We are _not_ inviting my old music teacher. He’s probably not even alive anymore.”

“That’s not a nice thing to say, honey.” Reprimanded Jemma, sitting up.

Alya tried not to laugh at how messy her tidy mother’s hair was. “What are you guys doing anyway?”

“Planning.” Said Jemma, just as Fitz said “Preparing.”

“Right.” Alya examined her father’s blueprints more closely, and one label immediately stood out. “Oh, is SHIELD coming?”

“Auntie Daisy and Uncle Daniel are coming,” answered Jemma, “and even though Uncle Mack is drowning in paperwork he said was still going to turn up like the stubborn giant he is.”

“I don’t get it.” Grumbled Fitz. “He’s not as tall as he used to be and he’s still taller than me. I was looking forward to gloating.”

“Uncle Dan’s coming?” Asked Alya excitedly. “I haven’t seen him in ages!”

“Speaking of stubborn people,” Jemma continued, “Aunt May is not supposed to go on any flights and she still said she would come. I think Coulson’s trying to talk her out of it but we’ll need to save her a seat just in case.”

Fitz scribbled something illegible to everyone but himself on the sketch. “Noted.”

“What about Coulson, then?”

Jemma smiled sadly. “He’s been waiting for this- your wedding, I mean. It’s one of the few things left on his bucket list. We were thinking about asking him to officiate but we’d have to check with Owen’s parents first.”

“Oh yeah, about that,” said Alya, “Owen said that the earliest they can come is in about a fortnight. They’re going to stay in a hotel.”

“Fine by me.” Fitz huffed from under the table (Alya had no idea how he got there).

“Is Elena coming?” He asked, before bumping his head and swearing softly.

Jemma consulted her trusty clipboard. “Um, no. Elena’s caught up in Mexico and is still nursing a leg wound. They won’t let her travel and unlike _someone_ (May) she’s sensible enough to listen to the doctors.”

Fitz had appeared back in front of his easel and his nose was almost touching one particular table sketch. “Is that everyone? I have it in my mind that there were nine of us.”

Once again, Jemma squinted at her list. “Davis is helping Piper make the trip. I think they’re bringing Flint too.”

“Oh, I’d forgotten about Flint.” Fitz mumbled. “That makes nine then if we’re including May, which perfectly fits the table. Who am I missing?”

He scratched his greying beard. “Let’s see… there was Coulson, May, Mack, Yo-Yo, Daisy, Sousa, Piper, Davis, Flint apparently, and… oh yeah! D-”

All of a sudden, Fitz visibly deflated. Jemma sighed in sympathy. Alya just looked between them, confused.

“What? Who?”

Panic began to bubble in Fitz’s eyes. “I-”

“He counted Daniel twice, didn’t you dear?” Jemma interrupted to Fitz’s utter relief.

“Yeah. Yeah I did.”

When Alya wasn’t looking, Fitz shot his wife a grateful glance. They’d managed to avert disaster, but they still ended up with an empty seat at the SHIELD table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shoutout to mr robertson, my awesome scottish music teacher who lives on coffee and dad jokes


	8. In-Laws

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FitzSimmons meet 'Mr & Mrs Shaw'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've been looking forward to this one :)

Alya was very stressed. After checking her hair for the fifteenth time and having to actually say out loud that she had nothing to worry about, she raced downstairs to make sure her parents were ready. Owen could arrive at any time.

She almost crashed into her mother, who was wearing one of her best casual dresses (which was actually just a party dress that looked just casual enough to pass off as normal). Her Mum was smart like that.

“You look great, Mum!” She said.

Jemma looked at her with concern in her eyes. “And you look stressed, darling. It’ll be fine.”

Alya almost laughed at that. “Yeah, sure. I’ll decide that once I see what Dad’s wearing.”

On cue, Fitz appeared at the top of the stairs.

“Dad!” She groaned once she noticed that he was still wearing that itchy grey jumper that he never seemed to take off. “You don’t have to wear a full suit, but at least a jacket!”

Fitz glared at her. Her father had always had an aversion to wearing suits, and Alya couldn’t actually remember ever seeing him wear one. Nonetheless, she’d still tried to convince him to wear one to make a good impression.

Jemma winced for some reason that Alya didn’t really understand. “You’re going to have to wear one for the wedding,” she told her husband soothingly, “now would be an ideal time to practice.”

“Nope.” Said Fitz, popping his ‘p’.

Just then, Alya’s phone vibrated in her pocket. “Oh my god, they’re here.” She said, immediately starting to take deep breaths to prevent herself from hyperventilating.

“Well, let’s go!” Jemma announced happily as she linked arms with her husband and began to make their way to the front door.

“Wait!” Alya cried, rushing past them and outstretching her arms on the porch to block their path. “This is my future in-laws you’re about to meet, so please try and be nice.”

Though she looked at both of them, the request was clearly directed at Fitz.

“Don’t worry,” Jemma reassured, stepping forwards to give her daughter a quick hug, “I’m sure Mr and Mrs Shaw are lovely people.”

“Haha, yeah..!” Alya chuckled nervously, slowly lowering her arms. She took a deep breath. 

“They’re also wanted in thirteen different countries.”

_“WHAT?!”_

But Alya had already rushed outside to unlock the gate.

Fitz’s head snapped towards his wife, and Jemma could have sworn his eyes were glowing red.

“That’s it.” He said, storming into the front garden. “I am _not_ letting my daughter marry the son of fugitives.”

Jemma ran out after him, grabbing onto his arm to stop him from murdering Owen in cold blood.

Owen himself had just jogged into their garden and briefly kissed Alya and was keeping one arm around her waist, and was holding the other one in the direction of the gate as if to present something.

A few seconds later, an elderly couple walked through.

All four of the seniors froze. Alya and Owen looked between them awkwardly.

After a long, impromptu silence, it was Mr Shaw that spoke up first in an all-too-familiar voice.

_“...You’re kidding.”_

“Mum, Dad, this is Arthur and Roberta Shaw.” Said Alya, obviously trying to cut through the air of awkwardness that had surrounded them all.

Fitz spoke next, in a stage-whisper.

“Hunter?”

“Oh my god, it is them.” Muttered ‘Mrs Shaw’.

Jemma broke out into a huge grin. “Bobbi!”

Owen noticeably cleared his throat. “Uhhh, how the hell do you guys know that?”

Hunter scoffed, but his eyes betrayed the fact that he was still extremely shocked. “Owen, you dolt, you didn’t tell us that your girlfriend’s parents were _the_ FitzSimmons!”

“It’s a pretty common name.” Bobbi argued.

Suddenly, Fitz broke out of whatever trance he was in and turned to his wife.

“Owen makes _so much sense_ now!”

A beat. He pointed an accusing finger at the pair.

_“WANTED IN THIRTEEN COUNTRIES?!”_

* * *

Jemma gently placed the warm mug of tea on the table, and Bobbi smiled at her gratefully.

“Thanks. Traveling so much is really starting to take its toll.”

A roar erupted from the living room followed by the sounds of a heated argument.

Jemma’s heart fluttered at the sound. “You know, it’s like they were never apart. I never realised how much Fitz missed his football buddy.”

From the room, Hunter cheered and Fitz groaned. Bobbi stifled a laugh.

“I think that’s their way of bonding. Lance mentions Fitz literally every time he watches soccer without realizing it.”

“Ooh, don’t let him hear you call it soccer, otherwise he’ll come on a warpath.”

The two ladies fell into a comfortable silence at the kitchen table. There was so much to discuss, half a lifetime’s worth, but neither knew exactly where to start.

“That’s a nice ring,” Jemma said eventually, “do you want to elaborate?”

Bobbi snorted. “Yeah, we got married. Not long after Owen, actually. We would’ve risked inviting you guys if we weren’t hiding out on a cruise ship at the time.”

Jemma raised an eyebrow when Bobbi just casually sipped at her tea.

“We bribed the officiator.”

“Of course you did.”

Swiftly, Bobbi put her mug back onto the table with a noisy thunk. 

“Right, that’s enough about us,” she said, putting her elbows onto the table to rest her chin on her hands, “tell me about you guys. Your wedding. Alya. Wait- no, I want you to start from the beginning and I want to hear everything. What happened when we left? What’s all the SHIELD gossip?”

“From the beginning?”

Bobbi nodded.

“Well-” Jemma’s fingers curled around her mug- “Coulson died.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jemma, that night: "Wait, that means Deke is ____"
> 
> fill in the gap. my suggestion is 'perfect director of shield material'.


	9. Friendship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The obligatory FitzHunter chapter.

Fitz wished that he could sink into the sofa for all eternity.

“Ha! Come _on_ Fitzy, you owe me a tenner.”

Fitz also wished that he could wipe that infuriatingly smug grin off Hunter’s face.

“They usually win,” he mumbled, “they kept Kirkland off the pitch for half the match. It just had to be the one where it mattered.”

He facepalmed when Hunter began to guffaw. “Okay, I definitely see where Owen got it from.”

Hunter’s laughter died down. “I’m sorry, mate. Football aside, I really missed you. All of you guys. I mean, the last time I saw you I was helping load your body onto a ship so you could freeze yourself into the future or something.”

Fitz laughed quietly. “Yeah, you were my last earth memory for a while.”

Hunter furrowed his eyebrows but didn’t question it. 

“How’d that work out for you?”

Clearing his throat, Fitz tried to summon up the backlog of memories that Jemma had told him so long ago of his alternate self.

“Well, uh, I made it. To, um, 2091. There was… the Kree? Yeah, the Kree. They’d enslaved humanity and were orbiting a version of Earth that had been quaked apart by Daisy in the Lighthouse. I met up with the team, did some stuff, got home-”

“Wait, how?” Interrupted Hunter, looking surprisingly engaged in Fitz’s story. “You can’t freeze yourself backwards in time.”

As much as Fitz loved Hunter, his failure to notice the obvious tended to get on his nerves. A lot.

“The same way the others got there in the first place,” he said, not bothering to hide his exasperation, “through the time monolith. Surprisingly that rock had enough of its magic space juice to bring back eight people. Anyway, we got back safely and apparently Talbot turned on us and Yo-Yo lost her arms and I d…”

He paused his story-telling when he noticed Hunter counting on his fingers and whispering numbers to himself.

“What?” Fitz asked grumpily.

Hunter shrugged. “I remember you mentioned a ‘Yo-Yo’ last time I saw you, so did you end up bringing back the bot?”

It took Fitz a minute to figure out what the bloody hell Hunter was going on about. “Oh, you mean Enoch? Nah, I’m pretty sure he sacrificed himself or something. I don’t know, I wasn’t there.”

The look on Hunter’s face was priceless.

“I mean, that wasn’t this version of me. When they- we got back, I died.” That memory was far from pleasant, but thinking of the next part brought a small smile to his face. “Jemma searched through space to find the frozen version of me and Enoch.”

Slowly but surely, Hunter pulled up his dropped jaw. “That’s one hell of a story to tell the kids. Oh, sorry, just the one kid.”

Alya was more than enough for him. She was his everything, but also kids (especially inquisitive and clever ones) are a _pain._

“You have no idea.”

“But hey,” Hunter continued, “who’s the eighth teammate? Not another handsome English rogue, I hope.”

“You wish.” Fitz scoffed. “No, it was a… a-um, just a guy from the future that got dragged back with us.”

Hunter cackled. “Lucky bastard. Bet SHIELD had fun babysitting him.”

Now Fitz had only been reunited with Hunter for an hour, and the majority of that had been spent watching a football game. And still, after the way that they’d immediately settled into their (very) old dynamic, he couldn’t help but feel compelled to trust him in a brotherly way.

“Hey, Hunter?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you promise to keep a secret? And not to tell anyone, _especially_ Alya and Owen?”

Hunter looked more than skeptical but still agreed. “Uh huh?”

Taking a deep breath, Fitz prepared himself for something that Jemma would probably almost definitely shout at him for later.

“So, you know that future guy that we brought back?”

Hunter nodded.

“His name was Deke.”

Fitz took a moment to let the first part sink in, but Hunter seemed to take it slightly differently.

“That’s it?” He asked. “Wow, what a weird name! I promise not to tell anyone!”

“He’s my grandson. He’s- our grandson.”

Hunter blinked once. Then twice. Then he slowly opened his mouth to speak.

Fitz prepared himself for the worst. He remembered when Jemma had first told him that the annoying and excitable addition to the team was their future grandson. It had taken a lot of convincing to get him to believe it, and now that he’d impulsively let the cat out of the bag to Hunter, he had to be ready to be there for him in that same way.

“So my son does have what it takes. Huh. Never thought he’d grow up enough.”

It was Fitz’s turn to blink in confusion. “What?”

“I mean, before coming here I thought he’d get cold feet and call it all off. But if your daughter is anything like you then like hell she’ll let him.”

“Okay, stop,” Fitz said, raising a hand, “are you not… concerned by the fact that your grandson is permanently stuck in an alternate timeline and also hasn’t been born yet?”

Hunter shrugged. “You didn’t mention that part, but at least we know what to name their kid. You seem way too stressed about it buddy, so unless it was entirely your fault I think you should lighten up. Focus on the now. Our kids are getting married soon, isn’t that crazy?” He slapped Fitz’s back, and though it knocked the air out of his lungs, Fitz found the gesture strangely comforting.

“Yeah. Yeah, it is. I guess you’re right.”

It was then that Fitz realised that as much as he loved his family more than the entire universe itself, he’d needed a Hunter in his life to balance things out.

And more than that, he’d missed his friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Owen's parents are called Arthur and Roberta Shaw because if they used their real names they would probably have thirteen different governments going after their son.
> 
> Lance (Lancelot) is a character from Arthurian legends.  
> Bobbi can be used as a shortened version of Roberta.


	10. Wedding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The wedding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I genuinely cried while writing this one.

Coulson was the first to arrive. After Jemma and Fitz had pitched the idea of his LMD-self officiating the wedding to Bobbi and Hunter, they had immediately been on board. He’d arrived one week early so that they could run through the ceremony so that everything could go smoothly on the big day.

Hunter and Bobbi had offered to be the ones to meet him at the airport. After the initial shock at seeing the fact that he hadn’t aged since they last saw him all those years ago, they’d rushed forwards to hug him. Hunter almost cried. Coulson was incredibly shocked himself, and the taxi ride back to the cottage was full of impossible stories that must have confused the poor driver.

Alya had been waiting in the garden for them. She stood up when the taxi pulled up their rocky driveway and had greeted her uncle with a warm hug. Fitz and Jemma watched on from the front door, with Jemma resting her head on her husband’s shoulder as they both tried not to cry. Coulson had congratulated them in the form of extremely out-of-date dad jokes, and nobody would have it any other way.

The wedding rehearsal went perfectly.

Next came Daisy and Sousa. They’d arrived a day earlier than expected as a surprise. It had been Jemma who’d opened the door, and she’d immediately reverted back to her ten-year-old self and had squealed with excitement. She and Daisy embraced straight away and refused to let each other go until they’d had a good minute or so of hugging. 

When Alya came to investigate the commotion from the top of the stairs, she’d let out a similar sort of noise to her mother. She raced down the stairs, calling out “Uncle Dan!”. Daniel, who had gone back to using his cane since his prosthetic had started throwing him slightly off-balance, had laughed heartily as his niece proceeded to almost squeeze the life out of him. Her favourite Aunt didn’t escape this treatment, because the moment Jemma let go of her, Alya pounced on Daisy like a fox.

Daisy was over the moon when Hunter and Bobbi dramatically revealed themselves. Dear Sousa was beyond confused. 

Davis arrived with Piper two days before the wedding. Though Piper had a broken arm, the also-strangely-young Davis was taking care of her like his life depended on it. Piper was sick and tired of the constant attention. The others felt relieved and reassured that neither of them had changed one bit.

Hunter wanted to experiment with Davis through the medium of extremely-dangerous pranks. Fitz practically had to tackle him to stop him from throwing a butter knife at the back of his head.

Late on the night before the wedding, Mack and Flint arrived. Though they both wanted to come much earlier, both were caught up in SHIELD business. Mack had a mountain’s worth of paperwork and missions to organize, and Flint was one of SHIELD’s top field agents.

Mack had cried upon seeing Fitz and Jemma in person after so, so long. He was still able to pick up a very reluctant Fitz, before doing the same to a less-reluctant Alya. 

He’d bawled like a baby when Bobbi and Hunter walked in. At first he’d frozen, and said their names like he didn’t dare to even hope. They’d walked closer, and the reunited trio had shared a beautiful moment of hugging each other with tears rolling down all three of their cheeks. 

Even later that night, Mack joined Fitz and Hunter to sit down and watch a football game they’d taped.

And then tomorrow arrived.

Alya had begun to hyperventilate, and Jemma had held her in her arms, whispering to her reassuringly until she felt ready to get ready. They’d picked out the perfect dress weeks in advance. It was simple, plain and white, but had subtle, delicate details that made it stand out like one in a million- just like Alya. It had soft, floral lacing around the waist and a wavy pattern towards the bottom. The sleeves were covered with translucent silk. Alya suddenly looked like the princess Jemma and Fitz had always believed she was. 

Daisy had offered to do her hair and makeup. Alya’s hair was relatively short, but that didn’t stop her aunt from twisting and curling it and adding various clips and grips and making it impossibly beautiful. There wasn’t much makeup, as per the bride’s request, but even the lightest powder and lipstick were added to make her ready.

The ride to the woodland venue was the hardest part. Alya sat squashed between her parents who were desperately trying and failing not to weep. She placed a graceful hand on each of their legs and squeezed it comfortingly. Her parents immediately did the same to her.

Because they were more than her parents. They were her best friends. They were her life. They were her everything.

When they’d arrived, the driver had to repeatedly tell the trio to not be late since the couple was too busy kissing their daughter’s hands over and over.

Alya apologised for them and they finally exited the car.

When it was time for the ceremony to begin, it was Fitz that got cold feet. He tried so hard to think of the reasons that he disliked Owen, but his mind had gone blank. He couldn’t think of a single excuse to blame the situation on, he’d worn a suit and everything, and he knew that everyone was waiting for him.

He silently looked up at his daughter with a pleading expression. Alya wiped away his tears with her finger. And then they did the one thing he’d yearned for and dreaded for so many years.

He walked her down the aisle.

Jemma, Bobbi and Hunter sat at the front, all with watery eyes transfixed on them. Coulson stood under the arch at the end with the biggest smile on his face. Daisy was trying her best not to cry, clutching Daniel’s hand under the table. Piper and Davis looked like they were having the time of their lives. Flint and May (when did she arrive?) looked so happy for them. Mack was openly dabbing at his eyes. And Owen…

Owen looked surprisingly dapper in a suit. Forget Fitz, it was even harder trying to imagine the scruffy boy Owen in a suit. But the man had cleaned himself up amazingly, was wearing a stunning black suit (that looked a size too big on him) and had his green eyes locked on Alya.

Those green eyes had shone when they reached the altar. He’d smiled at Fitz, but Fitz was shaking. He couldn’t give away his daughter, especially not to _Owen._

But then he turned and saw his team, his family all looking at him expectantly.

And after one final kiss on Alya's hand, he gave it to Owen.

He sat down slowly and immediately linked hands with his wife.

Coulson began his speech.

“We are gathered here today for the momentous occasion of the marriage of two wonderful people, Alya Fitz-Simmons and Owen Shaw. One could say that their union was written in the stars given their heritage, but these are two souls that are truly in love.”

Alya and Owen stared at each other with utter adoration in their eyes.

“If anyone has any reason for these two to not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace.”

Nobody spoke up, though Jemma had to hold down Fitz’s knee to stop him from jumping up.

“In that case, onto the vows. Alya?”

Alya took a deep breath. “It was my Dad who first introduced us, but Owen you have slowly become my life. It was your pure, unparalleled determination that I fell for, and even before our first date, I think I’d realised that you are the person I want to spend the rest of my life with, and I promise to always do my best for you. No matter what.”

Owen’s voice was uncharacteristically nervous. “Alya, I… you’re such an amazing person. It’s so hard for me to wrap my head around, that someone as perfect as you could even _like_ someone like me. You’re so smart, and I’m just a dumb traveller. And now we’re getting married. I love you, Alya, and I promise to always love and protect you as much as I can.”

Coulson asked for the rings, and the best man (one of Owen’s American friends) handed the matching set over.

It was once the rings were on the fingers, the couple had kissed, and the applause had died down that Jemma and Fitz both broke down into tears and were instantly engulfed in hugs and reassurance from their old teammates in what was the hardest moment of their entire, already challenged lives.


	11. Big Steps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya has an announcement to make to her parents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so ends the Owen-arc...

“So, you’re probably wondering why I called you both here today.” 

Fitz and Jemma both blinked in confusion from the sofa.

“In _our_ house?” Fitz asked, and Alya chuckled nervously.

“Sorry, it’s a force of habit. Research teams to lead and all that.”

Jemma smiled at their antics, but she couldn’t help that little voice in her mind nagging at her to be worried. They were so close to their daughter that there was never any need for interventions or any formalities at all, so the fact that she had sat them both down apparently with something to tell them scared her.

“What did you need to say, sweetheart?” She asked because that voice would not quieten until she had the assurance that she was just worrying over nothing.

Alya’s gaze lingered on her mother before she took a deep breath and clenched her fists. Jemma recognised this gesture as her drawing up courage. That little voice was only getting louder.

“So, our one year anniversary is coming up and I-”

“You want us out of the house for a bit of privacy?” Jemma interrupted noisily. “Of course! That’s understandable! It’s a big occasion, and your father and I haven’t been on a trip in _ages._ You and Owen can do all your, erm-” she tried to explain the word through a gesture using her fists- “all you want! Haha, of course we’ll go!”

She stopped when she realised that her daughter and her husband were both staring at her as if she was crazy. Fitz had that understanding look in his eyes that he got whenever he solved a particularly difficult problem.

“Actually,” said Alya softly, and Jemma’s heart dropped at the word, “that’s not far off what I was going to say. But not that.”

She took a deep breath again, and Jemma wanted to press her hands against her ears and curl up into a ball and deny that this was happening. It couldn’t be. She wasn’t ready. Neither was Alya. Not her little Alya.

But she couldn’t. She was trapped to sit still and listen.

“So it’s almost been a whole year, and I did say that we’d only stay until we decided what to do with our lives. And Owen and I have been talking about it, and we’ve come to a decision. Besides, we both know that you guys are tolerating Owen at best, and that we’ve overstayed our welcome-”

“No, darling-”

“Princess you’re always welcome here-”

“We’re moving to America.”

Jemma Simmons had jumped out of a plane without a parachute. She had been betrayed by someone who she had trusted with her life. She had been transported to a distant planet and forced to survive there, almost entirely alone. She had watched as her true love turned into a heartless monster, both virtually and in the real world. She had abandoned her only friend behind in a messed-up universe, only to later remember and realise that he had been her grandson.

But nothing, _nothing_ hurt more than the words that Alya had just spoken.

“A-Are you sure?” Her first instinct was denial. To try and change her mind. It was just a phase, surely. “Alya you’re our world. There’s plenty of room for you and Owen here, honestly-”

Fitz was silent throughout this. He was seemingly staring at nothing, but judging by the way his nose was flaring he was taking in every single word.

“There’s another reason, Mum.” Said Alya, visibly annoyed by her mother’s reaction.

Jemma was desperate now. “What other reason could you _possibly_ have to-”

“I’m pregnant.”

Jemma gasped. She also heard Fitz let out a quiet sob.

“And I know our home isn’t big enough for someone extra, and you guys aren’t exactly young anymore. I wouldn’t want to bother you with a baby. And before it happens, Owen and I want to see the world a little, you know?”

Fitz’s finally broke his silence. His voice was broken along with it. 

“How long have you known?”

Alya seemed to relax a little now that she’d told them the truth. She smiled. “Just three days.”

“How far are you?” Jemma asked, looking at her daughter’s very normal-sized stomach.

“Five weeks.”

Fitz then stood and waggled his finger at Alya.

“You’ll call us. Every. Single. Damn. Day.”

Alya hugged him. “Of course!” She laughed, immensely relieved. “Of course I will!”

And Jemma was torn. Fitz had always been so protective of his little monkey, so to see him be more willing to let her go than she was… it was eye-opening, to say the least. She knew she could come off a little condescending and controlling at times, but whatever she said was always for the better interest of others.

Which is why she knew she was being selfish now.

Alya had every right to leave. She was in her _thirties_ for goodness sake! But this was her daughter. The child that she and Fitz had suffered through so much to have and to be able to raise. And it was time for her to leave. Even Fitz was ready for that. 

As always, her husband seemed to read her mind. He released Alya and sat back down next to her, wrapping her in his arms.

“Isn’t this amazing, Jemma?” He asked. “Our daughter’s pregnant. We’re going to be grandparents. And she gets to go and live a wonderful life that we didn’t get to have at her age.”

Jemma began to sob, but her focus was on Alya.

“Every day?”

Alya was teary-eyed too. “I promise.”

That answer satisfied Jemma, and she opened up her arms for her daughter to snuggle into. She did, and Fitz crouched on the carpet so that he could complete the family sandwich.

They had to say goodbye to Alya Fitz-Simmons, and let Alya Shaw be the woman they’d always hoped she’d be. But that was easier said than done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...the beginning of the baby-Deke arc! Thank you so much for being patient with me, and I promise that he is slowly but surely on his way. Maybe not as quickly as you might think, but please have faith in me for this one :)


	12. Gender Reveal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FitzSimmons try to react appropriately when Alya reveals her child's gender to her parents.

Fitz finished connecting his laptop to their TV, before he sank into his faithful tartan armchair and sighed. Jemma walked in with two steaming mugs of tea and she placed them onto the little table (earning a kiss from her husband) and settled down into her identical chair.

"You know,” Fitz said while they were waiting for their daughter’s call, “I’m secretly wishing it’ll be a girl.”

Jemma raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms in a playfully stern position.

“We’ve only _just_ gotten some peace and quiet. I’d like to hold onto that for as long as I possibly can.” He elaborated, taking a long sip of his tea.

“Who knows?” Said Jemma, picking at a loose thread in the armchair. “A girl might end up being even trickier to manage.”

A beat. Then the both of them broke into hearty laughter which resulted in a lot of chair-slapping and wheezing.

Since the pair had first met they’d fallen in-sync with each other, to the point that people were often weirded out and called them out on it. But Fitz and Simmons paid them no heed because their connection helped them to soar above the other students and solve even the most impossible of problems. 

And even once they’d left SHIELD in order to live a normal life and raise their daughter in a humble cottage, they’d grown even closer to the point of even laughing in sync with one another.

Their laughter died down together.

“Seriously, dear, we have to do our best to make this special for Alya. Put on our best surprised faces.” Instructed Jemma.

Fitz adjusted his non-existent tie and straightened his posture.

“Excuse you, I am an _amazing actor_ , thank you very mu-”

He was cut off by his laptop ringing. He shared a brief knowing look with his wife before pressing the answer button.

A few seconds later, Alya’s face appeared on their TV (that Fitz may or may not have upgraded to no end).

“Hi!”

“Hey, princess.”

Alya grinned at them from the screen, and despite her ecstatic expression, both of her parents could tell that she’d been crying from how swollen her eyes looked. They couldn’t blame her, it was big news.

“Hi.” She said, wiping her cheeks. “So, we just found out.”

Fitz prevented himself from clearing his throat as his performance began. Jemma just followed Alya’s lead.

“And?”

There was some shuffling from the other end as Alya sat down on what looked like seats in a hospital’s waiting room. “Do you have a preference?”

Fitz and Jemma shared yet another, albeit more subtle, knowing look.

“Not at all! Boy or girl, it doesn’t matter to us.” Said Jemma.

“As long as you’re happy, we’re happy.” Said Fitz.

Alya smiled, happy with that answer. She sucked in a breath for dramatic effect, before squealing with jazz hands:

“It’s a girl!”

Fitz leapt up from his armchair. _“WHAT?”_

“No!” Exclaimed Jemma.

Judging by the look on Alya’s face, this was the last reaction she’d been expecting. She looked heartbroken. “I thought you said-”

Fitz had begun pacing around the room. Jemma spluttered through an explanation.

“I-It was just a bet, with Bobbi and Hunter, we lost! Haha!”

Alya didn’t seem convinced. Fitz swore quietly but passionately at the floor.

“Sorry, we’ve got to go celebrate now! Love you, Alya darling! Bye!”

Jemma practically punched the button to end the call, before slowly turning to Fitz anxiously.

“Your wish came true.” She said.

Fitz had gone red in the face. “I didn’t- I meant it but- I didn’t think it would actually work!”

Jemma sank to the floor and held her head in her hands with an air of defeat. 

“He told me he was an only child.”

Her husband held out a hand to present an idea almost desperately. “Unless he was..?”

It took her a moment to realise what he was talking about, and when she did she sighed and shook her head. “I doubt the Kree were avid trans supporters.”

He nodded in agreement and grunted in frustration. “Damn it! It doesn’t make any sense! Everything still happened the way it should!”

He was angry. She hated seeing him angry. So Jemma stood up and wrapped her arms around him, and in turn, he clung onto her like a lifeline. They were both frustrated and confused, but they made their daughter a promise, and they were still about to be grandparents. 

Just not to who they were expecting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise he's coming, but when do FitzSimmons get what they want without a little bit of suffering?
> 
> (Next chapter will be short and skippable, but it won't be for everyone. There will be a trigger warning in its chapter notes just in case.)


	13. Miscarriage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter can be missed out to anyone that doesn't want to read it.
> 
> Trigger warning: miscarriage.

Alya unlocked the front door to her home without saying a word. She entered slowly, as if in a dream, and her feet instinctively pulled her further inside the familiar space. One foot in front of the other.

It felt like she was walking on nails.

She said nothing as her parents rushed towards her. She said nothing as they enveloped her in hugs and concern and gentle support. She let them lead her upstairs into her old bedroom, and the second she was close enough she collapsed onto her bed.

Oh, how she’d missed the smells of the cottage. Various floral scents engulfed every room, some from the garden and others from candles decorated around the house. The scents always relaxed her in some sort of hypnotic effect. Something she would never get to share with her daughter.

She cleared her throat and willed the words to come out. Her voice was raspy and broken.

“Owen’s fine with me staying here for a few months.” She said. Her parents said something back to her, but she couldn’t process exactly what it was. But she knew her parents, and knew that whatever they were saying it was full of love and kindness.

And it was that unwavering support that forced her to fall into her mother’s lap. Her mother immediately began to stroke her hair. Her father rubbed her back soothingly. She didn’t try to hide her tears.

“I don’t think I can do this again.”

She knew her parents would be disappointed, but there they were showering her with support yet again. Her mother was telling her it was fine. Her father was comforting her. 

She loved her parents. And in that gut-wrenching, horrible, awful moment… she’d never loved them more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know someone that has been through this, so I tried to portray the horrible feeling as best as I could. It wasn't for no reason, there was a large time gap I needed to fill and this was a sensible and realistic way of doing it.
> 
> But it's all uphill from here for FitzSimmons, I promise.


	14. Dusty One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya gets suspicious when she and her parents look at baby names.

Nine years. Nine long, painful years it took for them to heal. For those nine long years, each time Alya caught sight of a mother absent-mindedly pushing a pram down the path or happy families playing in the park together, it felt like she was being stabbed. There was even a time when she felt like her parents’ famous curse had been passed onto her just so the universe could spite them.

But nearly a whole decade had passed, years that she hadn’t wasted and had managed to explore the beauty of the world with Owen. And for the first time since her loss, she’d smiled at the sight of new parents on the plane to Inverness.

She was finally ready.

She’d told her parents that she was expecting the minute she found out. Although she was absolutely terrified at the thought of being pregnant again, she wanted her parents to be along with her for every step of the way. No fancy announcements this time, no gender reveals, no surprises. Nothing that would let her get too attached to the little being growing in her stomach.

But that didn’t mean that she wasn’t excited. Her parents had been strangely insistent on the fact that they wanted to help pick out some names. She hadn’t properly thought about it last time, and since she’d put her foot down and decided that this would be the last time she tried no matter what happens, she’d agreed. Though it was still relatively early, she would grant her parents that wish.

Her parents were always quite nitpicky, so she’d come prepared with a bunch of different name websites saved on her phone as well as a couple of books she’d found. That way, she could be in control of the situation. There would be no surprises.

At least, that’s what she had been hoping.

They’d breezed over girls’ names that they had leftover from last time. But after only discussing five different boy’s names (Oscar, Adam, Jeff, Iain and Edward) her mother turned to face her suddenly.

“You know, Deke is a nice name.” She said.

It took a moment for Alya to realise that Jemma was being serious. She laughed anyway. “Is that even a name? I swear I’ve heard Owen use that word when he talks about his golden hockey days.”

She caught her mother giving a very pointed look to her father, who cleared his throat. What was going on between them?

“Uh, yes.” Fitz said, straightening his posture. “It’s a cool name. Very unique, he’ll stand out.”

Alya’s expression twisted into one of disbelief. “You guys seriously like the name _‘Deke’?”_

Fitz waggled his hand. “Ehhh-” Jemma elbowed him- “I mean, yeah, we do.”

Jemma smiled her sweetest smile. “Of course we do! I read it somewhere and thought that I would love for my grandson to be called that.”

Alya chuckled nervously. Her parents were acting weird, and it was creeping her out ever so slightly.

“What does ‘Deke’ even _mean?”_

Jemma and Fitz stared at each other blanky for a few seconds, before they turned back to her and shrugged in-sync. _Very creepy._

“You both chose a name for my son and you didn’t bother to check its meaning?”

They even both looked sheepish in-sync with each other. 

“Right,” Alya sighed, pulling out her phone for a quick Google search, “let’s find out then.”

She typed in her question briefly, wondering what culture the name even originated from. It took a second to load and she clicked on the first decent site she saw, waited for another second, and gasped.

Looking up, she noticed her parents both staring at her with wide-eyes.

_“Dusty one?!”_

She had no idea why her father snorted before bursting out into a fit of laughter, but it only fueled her suspicion. Her mother appeared to be very disappointed.

“Are you sure?” She asked Alya anxiously, for some reason causing Fitz’s laughter to increase.

_“Why?”_ He asked, his voice high-pitched. “Why would we _ever_ allow-”

Jemma elbowed him again. Her mouth was still slightly agape.

Alya frowned. “You’d better have a good reason for me to name my son ‘dusty one’.”

Her father stopped laughing then, and there was an awkward silence. Her mother’s shoulders slumped before answering:

“A good friend of ours was called Deke.” She reached for her husband’s hand. “We owe him our lives.”

It felt more like _we owe him his life,_ but Jemma didn’t say that.

Alya looked skeptical. “You’ve never mentioned him before.”

“It’s still a sensitive subject.” Fitz said quickly, and that just confused Alya even more. Her parents had been through so much and yet they’d managed to move on from it all. Have a laugh about it. She hadn’t even considered that there might still be lingering guilt and trauma.

She didn’t like the thought of that.

“Alright,” she sighed, “so I’ll tell Owen that we can keep Hope for a girl, and for a boy… we’ll discuss Deke.”

She suddenly understood the triumphant look that her parents shared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry but when i first read that deke meant 'dusty one' i snorted


	15. Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jemma unlocks a secret drawer.

Jemma fumbled with the little bronze key in her hand. It had been years since she’d even thought about it, and she’d needed to search for it all morning. In the end, it had been lying innocently in one of her old jewelry boxes. 

She stood (she would have kneeled but her knees couldn’t take that anymore) hunched over the chest of drawers in their bedroom for a good few minutes before she finally forced herself low enough to the smallest, lowest drawer. The only one that they’d installed a lock on.

Taking a deep breath, she unlocked it. It was stiff so she had to wriggle it open.

All at once, the second she’d laid eyes on the drawer’s contents, memories came flooding back. Memories of a figure perching on a table in a corner of the Zephyr while he fiddled with his Rubik’s cube, cursing quietly when he got stuck. Memories of that same figure flicking through comic books, so immersed in them that you would have to call his name many times to get him to respond. Memories of that odd scent that always entered the room before he did, and always lingered around the room reminding everyone of his presence.

That same scent wafted out of the drawer, causing Jemma to cough. Just because that cologne was associated with pleasant memories, didn’t mean that it _smelled_ pleasant. Quite the opposite, actually.

She ignored the various odd little trinkets in the drawer and instead took out the one thing she had been looking for. The one thing that she vaguely remembered that she’d once placed in there in the first place, and let out a small sigh of relief when it seemed to be in-tact.

A silver walkman simply labeled as a faded _‘Deke Squad Mix Vol. 2’_ in scruffy handwriting with a set of small, orange headphones attached to it.

Being as careful with the delicate objects as she could, she unplugged the headphones and locked the drawer once more, slipping the key into her pocket.

She joined her husband and her daughter just as they were laughing over something in the living room.

Alya’s stomach had grown, the biggest it had ever been, and it was only a matter of weeks left. There was a feeling of excitement in the air as they all anticipated the new arrival.

“Did you find it?” Fitz asked her as she entered.

She waved the walkman in the air. “I did!”

Alya looked between them, confused, but then her eyes settled on the set of not-quite-headphones-and-not-quite-speakers Fitz was pulling out from the side of his armchair.

“Oh come on,” she said once she realised what it was, “you’re going to put me through that nonsense?”

Fitz shrugged. “It was your Mum’s idea. I was just put in charge of finding one of these speaker things with the right sized headphone jack.”

Alya turned to her mother. “What even is that thing?”

Jemma gasped in mock surprise. “This is a walkman! They were a big deal in the olden days.”

“So you’re going to be playing super old songs to my baby.” Alya groaned. “Great.”

Luckily for Jemma, Alya didn’t put up too much of a fuss as she set up the equipment, placing the set of speakers gently over her stomach and connecting it to the walkman (making sure that the labeled side was faced down, or at least out of Alya’s sight).

Even luckier, it had enough charge to work straight away. Jemma skipped to the next song (since it had originally been paused in the middle of a track), adjusted the volume, moved back to sit in her chair, and waited.

A few seconds later, Alya burst out into a fit of giggles. “This kind of tickles!” she squealed, trying to calm her breathing.

Once she had settled down, the room was quiet enough for the faint, muffled sound of the current song to be audible.

Alya brightened suddenly. “Hey, I think I’ve heard this somewhere! Breakfast Club, right?”

After a moment of strained listening, Fitz sighed. “Yeah. He even stole his biggest hits.”

“What?”

“Nothing, princess.”

Jemma didn’t respond to their antics. She just silently turned the volume up.

For the first time, amongst the din of the guitars and drums, a voice could be made out in the room.

_“Will you recognise me?  
Will you call my name and say it nicely?”_

Alya closed her eyes and began to sway to the music. Jemma used that moment to share a panicked glance with Fitz.

They could hear his voice. They could hear his astonishingly good singing voice performing stolen lyrics. They could hear him audibly having the time of his life.

_“As you walk on by  
Will you call my name?”_

Usually, when someone listens to a song they focus on the melody and instrumentation. But Fitz and Jemma could only hear the words and nothing else. Just words with meanings that they’d never considered before.

_“Don’t you, forget about me”_

Judging by the look on her husband’s face, he was feeling every bit as guilty as she was. They’d discussed it before, but to hear the words (albeit sung) from the man himself…

They’d forgotten about him. They’d unknowingly forgotten about him for years, and they hadn’t even _tried_ to fix that. They’d cried, they’d mourned and they’d prayed for a grandson, but apart from that, they’d done nothing to help the man singing the song.

Fitz’s expression darkened suddenly, and Jemma felt a pool of dread beginning to build up in her stomach. She’d seen that face many times, and it had never led to anything good. She hoped that he would at least tell her what he was going to do instead of doing something stupid without her.

_“La, lalalala, lalalala,”_

Alya opened her eyes. “Hey, this doesn’t sound like the version I know.”

“It’s a cover.” Jemma supplied quickly.

Fitz’s gaze was fixed on the walkman. 

“Yeah,” he muttered, “it’s a _cover_ alright.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's called the deke drawer, and it contains all of deke's possessions that fitzsimmons managed to find on the zephyr


	16. Deke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FitzSimmons become proper grandparents for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope it's worth the wait!

Leo Fitz had convinced himself that there would never be a time when he wouldn’t be furious at Owen randomly calling them in the middle of the night like the complete idiot he was. For some reason, the lad liked to take advantage of the fact that he was married to his daughter in order to prank him endlessly. Truly, the man was relentless.

So when his phone rang at 3am in the morning, he begrudgingly sat up (patting his wife’s arms away) and answered.

“What?”

Owen’s panicked voice came crashing into his ear. _“Fitz, thank god! Alya’s started having contractions, I’m about to take her to the hospital. I… I don’t know what to do! I don’t know what to do, Fitz!”_

All grogginess had disappeared in an instant. Eyes wide, Fitz silently shook his wife awake. “Owen, first of all, calm down. If my daughter’s going into labour then you need to at least get a bloody hold of yourself.”

Jemma sat up in an instant and pressed her ear against the other side of the phone. Fitz pushed her away and put it on speaker mode.

_“Okay… okay. I can do that. I can be strong. Oh god, no I can’t.”_

“Owen?” Jemma asked, rubbing her eyes. “Where’s Alya? Is she okay?”

There was a loud moan from the other end before Owen replied. _“Y-Yeah, she’s fine. We’re just about to leave. She wanted me to ring you guys first, s-so can you let my parents know? We’ve got to leave as soon as we can.”_

“Stop talking on the bloody phone then!” Fitz yelled as Jemma slid out of the covers and immediately started packing a suitcase.

_“Okay, we’ll be in the hospital. Manchester.”_ And Owen hung up.

There were a few blissful moments where it felt like the world had frozen around him before it was kickstarted back into motion when his wife was dropping his laptop onto his lap.

“Get the earliest flights to Manchester, now! Come on!”

Being extremely grateful for the fact that his daughter had moved back into the UK, just over an hour’s flying distance from their home, Fitz obeyed.

As he typed in his details, he heard Jemma speaking on her phone.

“Bobbi? Yes, hello! Alya’s giving birth, so try and get here ASAP!”

* * *

Waiting. Fitz hated waiting. He was an impatient person, he knew that. But still. Waiting was horrible. Waiting in a hospital was even worse. 

Due to the fact that the baby decided to make its presence known rather late (how Deke of it) a cesarean section was needed. As uncomfortable as Fitz and Jemma were about the prospect that their daughter would be undergoing a huge operation, as any parent would be, they didn’t object.

They could only wait until the procedure was complete and Alya was comfortably in her room before they were allowed to visit.

And so they waited. The earliest Bobbi and Hunter could arrive was that night, so for the good part of the day they were the only ones there to support their daughter and son-in-law. 

Speaking of, Owen emerged from one of the doors, openly crying, and made his way towards them.

Fitz sat there with bated breath as he waited for Owen to compose himself and just say something.

“It’s a boy.”

And the world just… stopped.

* * *

His feet glided against the tiles as they meandered through the corridors of the hospital as if he was in a dream. All surrounding noise was cancelled out. Holding hands with his dear wife, they counted the room numbers until they finally reached room 501. 

Fitz lifted his hand to knock, but his hand began to shake fervently. He turned to Jemma in a desperate plea, and she smiled at him sympathetically and gently knocked for both of them.

Owen opened the door and stepped aside.

Fitz’s heart stopped. The room itself was surprisingly nice; patterned curtains, a bouquet of flowers on the windowsill, a bunch of Alya and Owen’s possessions littered around.

But both Fitz and Jemma’s focus was on their daughter, all snuggled up in the hospital’s white sheets. Or, more specifically, the tiny bundled-up figure sleeping on her chest.

Alya, evidently still exhausted from both the anesthetic and the overall excitement of the moment, smiled up at her parents wearily with shining eyes.

“Mr and Mrs Fitz-Simmons?” Owen announced in the quietest voice Fitz had ever heard from him, stepping around the bed to gently stroke the back of his son’s head. “Meet Deke Shaw.”

Fitz watched as Jemma approached them, cautiously stretching a hand towards her grandson, before changing her mind and stroking Alya’s head instead.

“How are you feeling?” She asked, examining her daughter’s face for any signs of discomfort. Luckily, there was none, but she still wiped away some of the tear tracks.

“I’m fine, Mum.” Alya smiled the brightest smile her parents had seen in years. “I just gave birth to my son.”

“You’re grandparents now.” Owen commented, stepping back to allow Jemma to get closer.

She still seemed hesitant. “Can I hold him?” 

Alya nodded and gently lifted the sleepy mass from her body and handed him to Jemma, whispering “This is your Nana” as she did so.

Jemma had always been good at handling objects delicately, she was a biochemist after all, but Fitz had never seen her handle anything so carefully as she did with the little baby. Not even Alya.

She cradled him in her arms. “You’re wonderful, aren’t you?” She cooed to the child with the mop of golden hair. “Our little angel.”

That little angel decided that would be the perfect moment to dramatically wake up and start crying.

“Oh, no no no!” Jemma shushed, moving him to her shoulder so she could rub his back. Deke just wailed even louder, and it was an extremely annoying sound that grated against the ears. “Don’t cry! I know it’s a lot to take in, but…”

She trailed off when she realised what the baby was actually looking at. Fitz was still frozen at his spot near the door.

“Here, you hold him.” She said, holding the baby out towards him.

It took Fitz a good few seconds to process what Jemma was suggesting. He… could he really touch that little thing? Was it real? Not some sort of cruel trick of the mind his arch-nemesis the universe decided to throw at him?

He couldn’t think for too long, because the screaming only got louder.

Reluctantly, he took the baby and cradled him as Jemma had. Deke gradually stopped crying.

“He likes you.” Alya said tiredly from the bed. “Do you know who that is, Deke?”

Fitz found himself entranced by the little face staring up at him curiously. 

“Hey there little guy,” he said, finally breaking into a smile, “I’m your Bobo.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Room 501. Deke's first appearance was in AOS ep 5x01.


	17. Apology

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coulson crosses off the last thing on his bucket list.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last sad chapter for a while, I promise! There are happy moments coming up!

Phil Coulson felt like he had seen it all. Norse gods? Ghost fire demons? Evil alien robots? Been there, been killed by that. Time travel was overrated. Seeing space got old. But there was one extremely little-known fact about Phil Coulson that he liked to keep private.

His weakness was young children.

Utterly awed by the little face staring up at him curiously, it was surreal for him to comprehend that the baby in his arms, in some other timeline somewhere, would grow up to be a member of the team he’d been part of so long ago.

His eyes flickered up to the many presents and cards littering the room. With the child in one arm (he’d forgotten what it was like to not be super strong, but even then the baby felt like he was a lot lighter than he should be), he stood up to examine them. 

A few of the cards immediately caught his attention. He wasn’t sure if it was his super eyesight or if robots could even have instincts, but he was drawn to them all the same. 

He opened the first one. It was homemade and had a picture of a fruit basket on the front. All of the fruit inside it were lemons.

_**Dear Alya & Owen, FitzSimmons, and Bobbi & Hunter,** _

_**CONGRATS!!! I’m so happy for you! I’m sure that little Deke is going to be a handful, but you guys can do anything you set your mind to. Alya and Owen, I know you’ll be amazing parents. FitzSimmons are obviously going to be the best grandparents. Bobbi and Hunter, please try to not blow up your grandson.** _

_**P.S. Daniel made the card but the lemons were my idea. I hope you like it :)** _

Underneath was a paragraph written in noticeably more refined handwriting.

_**Congratulations on a beautiful baby boy. I wish you all the best going forward as new parents and grandparents. Daisy has not left much room to write here but I know you will do a great job.** _

_**Sending you lots of love,  
Daisy and Daniel <3** _

Taking a closer look at the front, Coulson noticed that it wasn’t just a picture but an extremely detailed painting. It somehow didn’t surprise him that Daniel Sousa was an expert artist too.

That fanboy side of him really did never disappear.

He moved his attention to the next card that stood out to him. It had a photo of a grinning baby monkey on the front.

_**Dear Alya, Owen & family** _

_**Congrats on having a boy! We are so proud of you both. We hear boys can be tough, and we both have a feeling that this one might be tougher than normal.** _

_**I think Deke is a great name. I hope he enjoys his gift when he’s old enough to play with it. Love and miss you all. - Elena.** _

_**To Fitz and Jemma- we all knew this day would come eventually. I bought this card years ago, waiting to send it to you. I’m honestly getting emotional writing this. Make sure you tell Deke that his Uncle Mack loves him. You both deserve this. To Bobbi and Hunter- I’m finding it really hard to imagine you guys as grandparents. Deke is one special boy, so I’m setting you the challenge of giving him the world. ~ Mack** _

_**From Elena and Mack** _

Coulson smiled at the little light-up yo-yo sitting next to the card. There were various other cards sent by SHIELD agents that FitzSimmons had met over the years, but his heart twinged at the painfully obvious lack of one. 

He missed May.

He sat back down on the bed. “You’ve already got a hoard of fans, don’t you?” He said, offering his finger for the baby to curl his own fingers around.

Deke gargled in response.

Coulson stifled a small laugh and instead took to looking deep into the green eyes of the innocent, unknowing child.

“You took your time, didn’t you?” He asked the baby. He paused before replying to thin air. “No, no you’re right. Fashionably late. Typical you.”

He took a deep breath, knowing he was about to do something that he had already prepared for decades. He had no need for the oxygen, but it helped him to give the moment a sense of finality.

“Listen,” he began to confide in the oblivious baby, “there’s something I never got the chance to tell you. When I first met you, when all of us first met you, none of us trusted you. But in our defense, you were a very untrustworthy person back then. I guess we learned later on that it was our mistake. We should’ve known, from the moment you first offered to go and help Enoch get us home, that you were different. Even after we found out you were FitzSimmons’s grandson, we didn’t change the way we treated you.” He had to stop to bite his lip as baby Deke tapped his arm with his tiny fist, almost comfortingly. 

“I feel stupid about that now. I bet you think that’s stupid too. I wonder if we had this conversation in your timeline.” He laughed dryly. “I hope not, that just makes me feel even worse.”

“What I’m trying to say, is I’m sorry. We’re all sorry. We all regret it, even May. She asked me to tell you that if you were ever born. She turned out to be a surprisingly emotional person. Thinking back, I’m starting to think that you were the most emotional person on the team back then. Fancy that, huh? And still… you sacrificed everything for us. We wouldn’t have made it back without you, and I wouldn’t be able to talk to you now without you. You had such a crappy upbringing, pardon my language, and we just took you from your home. By some miracle you almost made a million in like, a year, and I’m not going to pretend to know how on Earth you did that, especially since that was like your first or second ever time on Earth. Seriously dude, everything about you is a miracle.”

“I still don’t understand how you did it. How you were immediately ready to get left behind to let us go home. In a completely screwed up timeline. I mean, it’s probably since it was never your home either. Anyways, I should probably stop putting this off, shouldn’t I?” 

“I’m sorry, Deke. We’re sorry. And we can’t thank you enough for what you did. We all led happy lives in our perfect timeline and that’s all on you, buddy. So… thanks.”

Deke hiccuped and began to cry.

FitzSimmons came rushing in immediately, and it pulled at Coulson’s heartstrings to see that they had visibly been crying.

Jemma took Deke from his hands and began to shush him.

Fitz stood awkwardly with his hands in his pockets, not meeting Coulson’s gaze. “Are you done?”

“I’m done.” Coulson replied and watched both Fitz and Jemma’s shoulders sag.

“We’re planning to go for a picnic tomorrow,” Jemma suggested desperately, “we’d love it if you came with us! What do you say?”

He knew what they were trying to do, but Phil wasn’t about to change his mind. He’d waited for so many years to get closure on this one final thing, on one final person, and he’d done everything he possibly could in the meantime. He was ready, and he didn’t want to lose any more of his friends in his abnormally long lifespan.

“I think I’m gonna pass.” He said gently. “But you guys have a great time.”

Jemma sniffed, and Coulson didn’t waste a second to move in to hug her, pulling Fitz closer as he did so. He remembered when the two were both just awkward, genius science students. They’d all come so far since then.

“I’ll miss you.” Jemma sobbed into his shoulder.

Fitz’s voice cracked as he added: “We both will.”

Coulson let them embrace him for a few seconds longer, but soon Deke began to wail again. He took that as his cue to leave.

He was glad that FitzSimmons got their happy ending. 

He was relieved that they got their grandson back.


	18. Happiness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A couple of milestones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promised you some long-awaited happiness, didn't I?

Jemma was cooking when her phone received the message. She stopped stirring for a moment to examine it, and her heart leapt at the sight.

It was a picture from Alya. A picture of little baby Deke (the two of them had taken to referring to him as ‘baby Deke’ since it was a cute nickname and also helped to distinguish him in their minds). He was lying in his cot wearing nothing but his nappy.

Now that would be an adorable picture in itself, however what made it special was the huge, wet, toothless grin he had on his face. Green eyes shone up at her and Jemma pressed her phone close to her heart.

She looked at the phone for a few more seconds before rushing towards the garage to show her husband.

A few months ago, Fitz had told her that he was going to get back into engineering and had planned a secret project that he was going to work on in their garage/lab. Jemma hadn’t protested, he deserved privacy if he wanted it, but that didn’t stop her feeling the tiniest bit anxious about it. She trusted him with her life, of course, but he’d look at her with raw, cold determination whenever she’d bring it up.

He’d even installed a doorbell onto the garage door, and that’s what she used to alert him of her presence in that moment.

He opened the door gruffly, covered in sweat. “What?”

Jemma tried not to react harshly towards his unpleasant greeting. So, instead, she wordlessly shoved her phone into his face.

Fitz looked at the photo for a few seconds, his grumpy expression slowly morphing into one of affection. “That had better not be photoshopped.”

To Jemma, Fitz’s feelings towards baby Deke had started to resemble those of big Deke’s. She thinks that he was doing it on purpose.

She shook her head. “I don’t think anyone could photoshop this smile.”

All of a sudden, Fitz jerked upwards and grimaced. “Send that to me.” He said, before disappearing back into the garage.

Jemma did so, and also sent a copy to the printer. Baby Deke’s first smile would be one of many treasures that she would keep.

She’d already emptied another drawer to prepare.

* * *

Fitz was eating breakfast when his phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID and answered it jovially.

“Hello?”

_“Dad! Dad guess what?!”_ Alya shrieked through the phone, almost deafening him. He put the phone on speaker mode and gently set it on the dining table.

“What, princess?”

_“Just listen to this!”_ There was some shuffling on the other end, and Fitz could make out Owen making some stupid noises in the background. He was about to sigh at his son-in-law’s antics when another faint noise came through.

A tiny little giggle. Fitz’s heart stopped.

_“Did you hear?”_ Alya asked excitedly, and Fitz had to compose himself before answering.

“I did! I heard that! What’s he laughing at?”

_“Owen.”_ Alya laughed herself. _“I made a video which I’ll send to you guys in a sec, but-”_

She was cut off by a loud guffaw. Or, at least, the baby-equivalent of a guffaw.

Both the parents and the grandparent were rendered silent. Fitz was the first one to break the silence by tilting his head upwards and screaming:

_“JEMMA!”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (psst those reading at the time of this being posted, there might not be an update tomorrow. just a heads up! thanks for all of the continued support, i appreciate it so so much!!)


	19. Struggles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being a mother isn't easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the majority of chapters from here on out are gonna be smaller! these are mostly baby deke snippets, but there's a couple of fic plot points to go through. 
> 
> we're on the home stretch towards the end of this fic now!

Alya groaned as the baby gate clattered for the umpteenth time. 

“Can that boy not leave it alone for _one second?”_ She pondered, forcing herself up to retrieve her son from the top of the stairs. He squirmed in her grip as she brought him back to the guest bedroom where she was talking to her parents.

“Welcome back.” Fitz said dryly.

She smiled through gritted teeth and gently placed Deke back onto the carpet.

The second his feet touched the ground, he was crawling off again.

A tired sigh echoed throughout the room.

“Seriously,” Alya remarked, “I’m starting to think that it’s physically impossible for him to run out of energy. That or he’s just sucking mine like a vampire.”

The gate clattered again.

She stood up with rage in her eyes but her mother caught her arm.

“Leave him be.” Jemma said. Reluctantly, Alya sat back down again. Her son wasn’t even a year old yet and he was still the biggest challenge she’d ever had to face. Being a mother was _tough._

Although she was extremely grateful for her son, Deke was a nightmare. First of all, the fact that he couldn’t even stand on his own two feet but still speed-crawled off into the distance whenever you put him down was starting to become a challenge. He also refused to go to bed by himself, so instead of having his own room he slept sandwiched between Alya and Owen. If that wasn’t the case, then his grating screams would echo throughout the street, and Alya wouldn’t be surprised if the sound travelled the distance from Manchester to Inverness. And that wasn’t even touching on the fact that…

“What’s he eaten today?” Fitz asked, bringing Alya back into that world of stress.

Her son was far too skinny. Not anything extreme, but his ribs were visible enough for a mother to be blocked from having anything else on her mind.

She sighed as her son’s efforts to break the safety gate drilled into her brain. “He had that apple mushy thing. I tried to get him to eat something else but…”

At that moment, as if he sensed that he was being talked about, Deke crawled into the room.

“Awababa.”

Jemma smiled at the sight. “Aww.” She cooed.

Deke turned to look at her angrily. “Awababababa!”

With a groan, Alya picked up her monster of a son and looked towards her parents apologetically. “Sorry, but I’m pretty sure that means he wants some milk.”

Baby Deke’s face had gone red with anger by that point. There were a few seconds of bliss before the crying started.

Standing up, Alya tried to shush him on her shoulder. “I’ll go feed him, you guys can stay here.” She instructed, hurrying out of the room.

Over her shoulder, Deke glared at his grandparents.

“Awababobo.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> deke is just angry that he was defeated by a safety gate


	20. First Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grandsons are annoying things... right?

Fitz was putting the laundry on the washing line when his phone rang out into the peaceful, sunny afternoon. He cursed quietly at the disturbance of the tranquility and sighed when he saw it was a video call of all things. He wasn’t young anymore and socialising in general tired him out. Not that that wasn’t the case when he _was_ young either, but still.

He slid the icon up.

“Hi.” He greeted unenthusiastically. 

Alya’s joyful voice filled his ears. “Dad!” She exclaimed between laughs. “I need your help!”

The camera on the other end was shaking, and Alya seemed to be running from something. Fitz watched in confusion as Owen’s angry face appeared in the corner of the screen for a split-second.

“Don’t listen to her!” He heard him exclaim from further behind. “She’s delusional!”

The couple then broke into laughter again, and Fitz was even more confused. “What’s going on?”

Alya was breathing heavily from running, and he heard the patter of her feet rushing down the stairs with Owen hot on her heels.

Softly, from a distance, Fitz heard the familiar, heartwarming sound of his grandson’s only word. “Mama!”

As annoying as Baby Deke could be, he couldn’t deny that he loved him to pieces. It was odd being so close to a baby after so long and not being present for its development. He and Jemma truly had been blessed with Alya, an angel of a child, and he did not regret missing the chance to raise a child on the other side of that spectrum. The case in point: _Deke._

But still…

There was utter chaos on the other end.

“No no no!” Alya was shouting to someone off-screen. “You stay there! Don’t come over here.”

The camera was then pointed towards the little boy sitting on his play mat with a teething ring hanging out of his mouth. Along with a long dribble of drool.

“Deke honey,” Alya said, “who’s this?”

Deke looked uninterested in whatever commotion Alya and Owen had wrapped themselves up in. “Aga.” He babbled before turning away.

Gently, Alya used a hand to tilt his head back towards the camera. “No sweetie, look again. Who is this?”

Fitz quickly took a subtle screenshot of the look of utter disgust on Baby Deke’s face. 

“Baba.”

It took Fitz a moment to process what was just said.

“Good boy!” Alya was saying, kissing her son on the cheek.

Owen grunted from somewhere. “He’s saying ‘papa’.” He grumbled.

Alya scoffed. “No he’s not! When have we ever used the word ‘papa’?” She turned back towards Deke. “Okay monkey, I want you to choose now. If you mean Daddy, then say ‘Papa’. Or if you mean Bobo then say ‘Bobo’!”

Deke looked at the camera then, and Fitz could’ve sworn that he was somehow looking him straight in the eyes. He seemed to think something over deeply before replying:

“Bobaba. B- _Bada_ … Babo. Bobo.”

Thunderclouds began to form over Owen’s head, and Fitz could hear the poor, defeated man storm off.

Alya herself was speechless. She turned the camera back towards her, and he saw the tears forming in her eyes. She took a deep breath.

“Did-”

“I did.” Fitz replied, only just realising that he himself was beaming from ear to ear. It shouldn’t be such a big deal, just the second word of his infuriating grandson…

...but _still…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> totally haven't been sucked back into anastasia the musical. more specifically, gleb's gimmick: "but still..."


	21. Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fitz has been working on a secret project in the garage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternate chapter title: 'Mistake'.

Long ago, Jemma had become addicted to reading. Once she had enough free time, she would anticipate losing herself within fiction every night. She’d read a lot of non-fiction when she was younger, but there’s only so much one can read about a particular subject.

The imagination, however, allows for a lot more.

She was currently reading a new book, ‘Apples & Knives’, when her phone vibrated next to her.

A text from her husband.

**_‘meet me in the garage when u can’_ **

Under normal circumstances, Jemma would have carried on reading. Or at least finish her chapter. But the fact that Fitz was inviting her into a garage that she hadn’t been in for over a year…

She didn’t give it a second thought. Slipping her bookmark onto the page, she immediately made her way to their makeshift lab.

When she opened the door, she wasn’t sure what she was expecting.

What she definitely _wasn’t_ expecting was to see her husband sitting on a white sheet surrounded by various circuit boards and metal parts. There were wires of many different colours strewn around. On the main table at the far end of the garage was a vaguely familiar piece of equipment that made Jemma begin to feel sick by just seeing it.

But Fitz himself looked far more broken than any machine.

“Darling…” Jemma said quietly, not knowing where to start. “What’s this?”

Fitz looked up at her from his defeated position on the floor. 

“I can’t do it.” He said. “I tried so hard because I wanted it to be a surprise… f-for _you_ Jemma, but…”

Jemma shook her head in disbelief and she wished she could cover her ears.

“I’m stuck.” Fitz continued. “It keeps beeping randomly and I can’t figure out why. Last time we worked together, a-and we had Enoch, but if we could at least bring him home it would be worth it, right?” 

“Is this what you’ve been doing all this time?” Jemma asked. “Trying to build it again?”

Sheepishness used to look endearing on her husband’s face. Now though, it just made him look lost.

Jemma helped him back onto his feet. “You know that I can’t help with this sort of thing, even if I wanted to.”

Fitz turned to her, confused. “Y-You don’t want to?”

Slipping her arm around his waist and resting her head on his shoulder, Jemma just gestured towards the poor state of the garage.

“It’s been so long, darling. And we have our own Deke now, so who knows what paradoxes we’d accidentally create? As much as I want it, you know how well he manages to survive. I like to think of him as a tardigrade- he can survive anything, somehow.”

“But _we_ did that to him.” Fitz countered. “If I could’ve just figured out how to trigger it remotely, then he wouldn’t be stranded in the first place.”

Jemma pulled back in order to look her husband in the eyes.

“Have you felt guilty about that this entire time?”

“Maybe.”

She sighed. “Come on, we’ll go back inside and I’ll make you a cup of tea. You need to let it go, okay?”

He was still on edge. “I could at least make it so that it could transmit and receive messages like I’ve _almost_ done just in case he-”

“No, dear. It wouldn’t be fair on Baby Deke or Alya.”

“Fine.” Fitz sighed deeply, letting himself be led out of the garage. “Fine.”

The garage door clicked with a sense of finality. The quantum device beeped again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> beep boop not done with angst beep boop


	22. Birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A small garden celebration for Deke's 2nd birthday.

_“Happy birthday dear Deke-y, happy birthday to you!~”_

Deke bounced on his feet and clapped his hands together happily.

The seven of them had managed to get together for the first time since Deke was born- exactly two years ago that day. And for Deke himself, it was practically the first time he was seeing all of his family in one place.

And since they all adored him, he was loving (and definitely taking advantage of) the huge amount of attention he was being given.

“Oi, Deke-y boy,” Hunter called from his deck chair, “come over here for a sec.”

Deke toddled over. “Gwampa!”

“No, you can’t ask him to get you a beer.” Bobbi scolded from her own deck chair. Owen snorted.

They were all in the back garden to make the most of the nice weather. Unlike her parents in Inverness, Alya’s home’s front garden was nowhere near as secluded or private. But the back garden was large enough for four long deck chairs and a picnic blanket.

“Damn.” Hunter remarked. “When he’s older then.”

Using the side of the chair as support, Deke hopped up and down with glee. “Gwampa! Gwampa!”

Hunter groaned. “Ugh, can you go and bother someone else now?”

“You were the one who called him over there.” Jemma commented, earning yet another groan from Hunter.

“Children are such hard work.”

“Hey!” Exclaimed Owen, causing the group to laugh.

Alya patted down the free space on the blanket next to her and spoke in her best child-luring voice. “Come here darling, leave Grandpa alone. I want to sing you a special version of the happy birthday song that your Nana and Bobo used to sing to me when I was little.” 

It took a few more calls to get Deke to stop bobbing up and down and to actually listen. But he eventually did and planted his bottom down to listen to his mother.

“Ready?” Alya asked once Deke had stopped fidgeting. Her son nodded.

“Alright then, it goes like this: _happy birthday to you, you live in a zoo, you look like a monkey~… and you smell like one too!”_

She poked at his tummy once she’d finished singing, and Deke burst into a fit of untamable giggles.

“Aw, I remember singing that to you!” Said Jemma. “It was your idea, wasn’t it dear?”

There was no response.

“Is he asleep?” Bobbi asked, sitting up to get a better look at Fitz’s slumped form.

Jemma peered sideways and gently lifted the newspaper from her husband’s face. “He is!” She announced angrily. “I’m going to wake him up, he shouldn’t miss his grandson’s birthday!”

“No Mum, leave him be.” Alya said.

“Yeah,” Agreed Owen, “the longer he’s asleep the longer he won’t insult me.”

“Pshh, he doesn’t mean it, you know that.” Teased Jemma.

The three of them playfully arguing proved as a good distraction for Deke.

Resting on the arm of Fitz’s chair was a half-drunk glass of juice. Hunter snorted as Deke silently (for once) tip-toed his way towards it.

“Come on babe, you totally see how your dad treats me, right?”

Alya feigned innocence. “Actually, I don’t-”

_“WHAT IN THE BLOODY HELL-”_

All heads turned to see Fitz sit up, covered in a sticky, orange mess.

Deke blew a raspberry. “Messy Bobo.”

The shock in the garden disappeared almost instantly and everyone laughed uncontrollably.

Well, everyone apart from Fitz.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we're getting closer and closer to the end...


	23. Accent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jemma has a realisation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 5 chapters to go!

Alya had been given a very high position as one of the head researchers at Manchester University, and Owen had (somehow) managed to be put in charge of a climbing centre. Since both of them had pretty demanding jobs, Alya moreso, it was impossible for them to leave their house for more than an overnight trip.

That made visiting either set of grandparents a problem.

Luckily for Alya, her parents were relatively close enough to visit them instead.

Jemma rang the doorbell, and it only took a few seconds before a tiny muffled voice could be heard from inside.

“Ding dong! Ding dong! Mama, ding dong!”

Then there was some shushing, and the door opened to reveal a slightly disheveled Alya trying to pull a very hyper Deke off her trouser leg.

“Hi Mum, hi Dad. Come- _Deke, get off-_ come in.”

“Hello!” Jemma and Fitz greeted simultaneously, walking inside. Though it wasn’t raining (yet), the sky looked like it could open up at any moment and it was a relief to get inside.

Owen greeted them from the top of the stairs. “Hi Mr and Mrs F.”

Deke ran towards the bottom of the stairway and stared up at his father. “Daddy! Daddy, ding dong! Ding dong!”

“The stupid doorbell’s over, Deke!” Owen shouted, startling Fitz and Jemma. “If you’re not gonna calm down then get the hell out of the house! We’re trying to work!”

Alya sighed and rubbed her temple. Deke’s face fell and his bottom lip began to wobble. Jemma looked confused. Fitz glared at Owen.

“What was that for?!” He exclaimed. “He’s just excited to see us. Don’t blame him for that!”

Owen began to descend the stairs. “Yeah but you don’t have to live with this demon, do you?! All day, _all day_ he’s been screaming at us. We’re providing for him, and he doesn’t even let us work or at least give us some peace.”

“Calm down, honey.” Alya sighed. “Go carry on with your reports. I’ll look after Deke.”

Owen glared at his dejected son for a few moments, before disappearing into his office, slamming the door behind him.

“Sorry about him,” Alya apologised, “he’s been trying to get a loan for the centre, he’s really stressed out. We both are.”

“That’s alright.” Jemma said, but her voice betrayed her slight uneasiness. “We all get stressed sometimes. Your father more times than others.”

“Hey!” Declared Fitz. “That’s not true!”

“You still shouldn’t take it out on Baby Deke, though.” Jemma scolded, searching the hallway for said boy. “Where is he, anyway?”

Alya‘s expression hardened. “He’s found a little corner between the sofas. He tends to go there whenever one of us shouts at him to sulk, but it’s usually Owen.” She smiled sadly. “He’s even started to stash little trinkets there.”

“Can I go talk to him?” Asked Jemma, and Alya agreed.

She found him sniffling exactly where Alya had said. In a little cranny between two sofas, big enough only to fit a three-year-old. Deke looked up at her with wide, wet green eyes and shrunk away.

“It’s just Nana, darling.” Jemma cooed, peering down at him. “Are you feeling a little bit sad?”

He nodded.

“Well, we can’t have that, can we?” She told him, offering a hand to help him climb out. He climbed out without her help.

“Good boy. Now, what do we say?”

“Sowwy.” 

“Not to _me,_ silly!” Jemma laughed. “I meant your mama.”

He fidgeted with his t-shirt. “Oh, Mummy?” He dragged himself over to where Alya and Fitz had entered the room. “Sowwy Mama.”

Alya smiled and lifted her son into her arms to hug him. “That’s fine, sweetie. Just try and listen in one go, okay?”

“Oh-tay.”

Jemma’s heart warmed at the sight, but then her mind clicked on to what exactly had just happened. She turned to her husband. “Wait, did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Asked Fitz.

With a sudden determination, Jemma pointed at Alya. “Baby Deke, who’s this?”

Deke’s face brightened at the easy question. “Mama! Mummy!”

Fitz was still confused. “What?”

She laughed in disbelief. “He has a British accent!”

“Of course he does.” Said Alya. “Did you think he was more of a Daddy’s boy? No way.”

“Hold on, you’re right.” Fitz said, his eyes widening. He scoffed. “He has an _English_ accent, of all things.”

It was Alya’s turn to look confused. “What are you talking about? Why- oh, was the other Deke American or something?”

She had the humility to seem guilty when both of her parents flinched.

“He did.” Informed Jemma. “But our Baby Deke? He’s British. He’s ours.”

Jemma stroked her grandson’s spiky brown hair. Deke just continued to tug at his _Mummy’s_ ear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> owen isn't always the best dad, even in this timeline


	24. Genius

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya finds herself in a dilemma.

“...And then,” Alya giggled on her end of the video call, “and then it fell on Owen!”

Jemma laughed politely at the mental image of a mischievous Deke ‘accidentally’ dropping a laundry basket on top of a poor, unwitting Owen. 

Alya seemed to find it funnier though, and it took a while before her own laughter died down. “Owen was so angry.”

“Actually,” Jemma interjected, “I’m glad you brought that up. I think Owen shouts at Baby Deke too much.”

A frown came upon Alya’s face. “I know he does, but there’s a limit to how much he’ll listen to me. You know he’s a stubborn ass, if he gets something into his head it will _not_ go away. Even if that thing is thinking that his son is a monster.”

Jemma’s heart dropped. “That’s awful, though. He’s not a-”

“No no no, don’t get me wrong, he _is_ a little monster. But it’s just how he is, it’s not his fault.”

“Are you sure about that?” Asked Fitz, as he entered and began to maneuver around the kitchen.

“Oh, Dad! I’m glad you’re, I wanted to tell you both something.”

After picking up a bunch of strawberries from the fridge, Fitz joined his wife and sat down on one of the stools near the kitchen table. 

“What?” He asked.

“So Deke’s teacher called us into school the other day saying she wanted to talk to us. And apparently Deke’s way further ahead of his classmates and she thought he would reach his academic potential by moving up a year.”

There was a moment of silence before her parents erupted into suggestions.

“Oh _definitely!”_

“Yeah, go for it!”

“We did the same for you too, you know.”

“Why do you even have to think about it?”

Alya sighed. “No, you don’t understand. She said that he was really far ahead in learning and his athletics, but he’s kind of behind with his social skills.”

Jemma’s face fell. “Oh. I thought he was getting better?”

“Not really,” Alya replied, “he’s still struggling with some of his speech and _cannot_ socialise for the life of him. He’s getting left out. The teacher said that he will soar if he moves up, but it will practically ruin any chance of improving his social skills, and vice versa.”

Fitz fiddled with the strawberry in his fingers. “I feel like that’s just in his genes. I mean, I wasn’t great at socialising either.”

“He’s still not.” Jemma added.

Alya smiled.

“But if you’re asking for our advice,” Jemma continued, “I think that he should stay with his age group. He’s _your_ son, so there’s no doubt he’ll turn out to be a genius anyway. He already is!”

“He’s _your_ grandson.” Alya said, blushing.

“I agree with your Mum.” Said Fitz. “At this stage, I think friends are more important than whether he can count to ten.”

“He can count to five hundred.”

“Same thing.”

Alya and Fitz then fell into friendly conversation (that happened more rarely these days since the younger couple was so busy) and Jemma found herself tuning them out and getting lost in her thoughts.

Honestly, it was no surprise to her that Deke was a genius. She had predicted it, in fact. But she couldn’t help but think about the _other_ Deke. For the first time, she wondered whether he’d ever had any proper formal education. Could he count to five hundred at age four? Did he get the chance to have childhood friends? Did he struggle with his social skills too?

...Were they truly the same person?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to reference ducktales (because why not):
> 
> alya is smarter that the smarties, owen is tougher than the toughies, and deke? deke is sharper than the sharpies


	25. Grandson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jemma, Fitz and Alya all have their own realisations. Deke just wants to look through a bush.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm going to admit... writing these final two chapters made me genuinely tear up.
> 
> part 1/2

“Bobo! Nana, Bobo, look at me!”

It was Deke’s first time in Scotland. Technically, it was his _second_ time, but he was barely a few months old the first time and that visit had only been brief. But Alya and Owen had put their heads together and arranged a two-week-long retreat to Inverness, where they used to live. 

Her old home.

Scotland wasn’t always lucky when it comes to weather, but there were a couple of days in the Summer- days that were the gems of the year. That day was one of them.

The five of them had assembled in the front garden to spend the day outside and have a picnic on the grass. Owen had kindly brought out two of the dining room chairs for Fitz and Jemma to sit on (they couldn’t manage to sit on the ground anymore but didn’t want to be left out) while himself and Alya sat on an old picnic blanket they’d found in one of the wardrobes.

And Deke, the little daredevil, had decided to use his time wisely and climb Jemma’s prize Acer tree.

“You’re doing great, sweetie!” Jemma called, squinting at her grandson’s proud pose in the sunlight. From her perspective, his silhouette made him look like a superhero.

“Get down from there!” Said Fitz. “You’ll fall off and break your leg and I’m not gonna make that trip to the hospital.”

Deke somehow perceived that statement as a command to start jumping up and down on the branch.

Immediately, Owen jumped up and caught him before he had the chance to fall. “That’s enough of that for one day, little dude.”

Deke pouted. “Awww.”

“Play on the ground now Deke, okay?” Alya instructed, rubbing her son’s back. 

“Okay.” 

It didn’t take long for him to get over his sulk, because seconds later he was literally chasing a butterfly that had just wanted to inspect one of the many exotic flowers in the garden.

“I can’t get over how big he’s gotten.” Jemma commented as a seemingly intrigued Deke stared into one of the large bushes that acted as a barrier around the perimeter of the front garden.

Alya smiled with pride. “Have you noticed how much better his speech is?” She asked. “Staying in year 1 has really worked out for him.”

Fitz laughed softly. “His face is starting to shape up now, too. And I’ll be honest, I never would have thought-”

Suddenly, there was a loud rustling sound and a robin flew out of the bush that Deke had been peering into. He jumped back, as startled as the robin, and pointed at it with wide eyes.

“What was that?” He asked curiously.

Fitz waved it off, trying to hide his annoyance at getting interrupted. “It was probably just a squirrel. Hey Deke, did you know you can find _red_ squirrels in Scotland?”

Deke shook his head but was visibly intrigued. “Really? I didn’t know. That’s so cool! Are there more colours, Bobo?”

Without warning, Jemma stood up and threw a shaking hand over her mouth to muffle a cry. She went back inside the cottage as quickly as she could.

Fitz, Alya, Owen, and even Deke watched her go in shock.

It took a few moments of silence before Fitz spoke up.

“I’ll go, stay here.” He instructed, making his own way inside. 

He found his wife hunched over the kitchen table, crying. “Jemma! Jemma, what’s wrong?”

A teary-eyed Jemma looked up at him desperately. “It was _him._ I didn’t realise it, b-but… he was _Deke. _Our little baby Deke.” She sobbed.__

Realisation began to dawn upon Fitz. A horrible, _horrible_ realisation, but he didn’t want to think about it. Not yet.

“What do you mean?” He asked quietly, knowing exactly what she meant.

“Just _look_ at him.” She tried to explain. “The way he talks, the way he acts… even his personality is exactly the same, he was-” she took a breath to try and calm herself- “he was _Deke_ that whole time. He was our _grandson._ And we treated him like-”

“What are you talking about?”

Both Jemma and Fitz froze upon seeing Alya standing in the doorway. Her arms were crossed, but her expression was one of concern.

Jemma gulped down her tears. “Alya, I-”

“No, don’t backtrack.” Alya said as she walked towards them, face hardening. “I’m sick of all this secrecy. I’ve sneaked a look into that drawer before, so don’t pretend like it doesn’t exist. I just want the truth.”

She circled the table and ended up facing her parents. Her parents who knew that their daughter was a genius and that she had already put two and two together. They knew there was no going back.

“So please, just tell me once and for all… who did I name my son after?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Those pesky squirrels, am I right?


	26. Ever After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their happy ending is long overdue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so... we made it. The title for this chapter is totally not inspired by the song from Into The Woods.
> 
> part 2/2

_“So please, just tell me once and for all… who did I name my son after?”_

Jemma turned to Fitz for help, she truly didn’t know what to say, but her husband was still frozen in his place, his mouth moving but not quite managing to form words.

So it was up to her, then. She took a deep breath- if she was going to tell her daughter the truth, then she might as well tell her everything rather than insult her intelligence.

“Alya, d-darling, do you remember the mission we told you about? The one where we were sent to the future to save the world from getting torn apart?”

Alya was quiet for a few moments before she replied. “I remember.”

“Well,” Jemma continued, her voice sounding as heavy as her heart felt in the unusually tense kitchen, “do you remember how we got back to the present?”

“Something to do with Uncle Enoch, right?” Alya questioned skeptically. She only had very vague memories of Uncle Enoch, but there were plenty of pictures showing the pair together. What she definitely _couldn’t_ remember was him being a robot. He’d always just felt like a part of the family.

“Y-Yeah.” Fitz affirmed. “It is. B-But in order to get us home, h-he-”

“He needed backup.” Jemma said, and Fitz shot her a grateful look. “And so an… um, _ally_ we’d made in the future offered to help. We all thought it was a suicide mission, but we think he ended up getting sucked in by the tiny piece of the monolith that was near him. He came back to our time and timeline too.”

“You never mentioned bringing someone back from the future with you! That’s a huge change to history.”

“We know!” Fitz exclaimed.

“We didn’t mean to.” Said Jemma. “But he came back with us and tried to help us.”

“Tried?” Alya questioned.

“He got shot and had to have emergency surgery.”

Fitz gasped and snapped his attention towards Jemma. “He got shot?! You never told me- oh _no…”_

Alya looked between them, her face darkening with concern. “Who _was_ he, Mum?”

Jemma continued to purposefully ignore her. “Even after he got shot, none of us really had time for him. We treated him so horribly. I always thought that I did better than the others, but just now I realised that it felt more like an act back then. Like I was obliged to be nice to him. B-But I shouldn’t have…”

She choked back a sob then, and Fitz quickly rushed to her side to comfort her.

Alya couldn’t find it in herself to find sympathy. She glared at them, the same question reflected in her expression.

“You know, he told me once about his family.” Fitz said whilst rubbing Jemma’s back. “He was a… a slave, I think. All humans were in that future. He told me that his mum had been murdered in front of him when he was just nine-” his voice cracked at his own words- “and his dad was sent to die.”

Alya opened her mouth to say something, but Fitz didn’t let her.

“B-But that’s how he learned to survive!” He said, but it sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than anyone else. “He came back, started a whole company and was super rich and- and _we left him…”_

He covered his face with his hands and Jemma gently pried them off his face to kiss his cheek.

“He chose to stay behind.” Jemma reassured. “Without him, we wouldn’t be here, and this timeline might not even exist.”

“What was his name?” Alya whispered again, her skin a sickly pale hue.

Jemma and Fitz shared a look of devastation, because there was no going back or even going forward without revealing the inevitable. The silence in that moment was thick and heavy. It felt like no words would ever be able to cut through it.

Luckily, no words were needed. From outside, Deke’s sudden loud burst of giggles could be heard over Owen’s playful shout of exasperation.

Jemma’s head turned towards the window, though her vision was too blurred with both age and tears for her to focus it properly.

She smiled a wobbly smile.

“His name was Deke.”

Both Fitz and Jemma’s hearts broke at Alya’s cry of anguish. They watched her fall to her knees as she covered her mouth in an attempt to hide her shock. They both had strong instincts to comfort her, she needed it more than they did after all, but neither of them could find it within themselves to do so.

They felt like they didn’t deserve it.

“I-I thought you might have looked into the future or something.” She sobbed. “Not- not _this!_ Not from _that_ future!”

In-sync as always, Fitz and Jemma’s parental instincts broke them out of their guilty stupors and they hurried to their daughter to help her back to her feet.

“He was a hero.” Jemma said as she brushed the dirt off her daughter. “And trust me, once we’d brought him back he was genuinely the sweetest man I’ve ever known.”

Fitz let out a small scoff… that turned into a broken laugh… that melted into a sob.

“You said you left him.” Alya said, wiping away her tears with her sleeve almost childishly. “Where? Why didn’t you go back for him?”

“Our final mission.” Fitz supplied, knowing that his wife’s memories of those final moments of that mission were hazy. “In order to get us back to our timeline from the screwed up one and take all those chronicoms back with us, someone needed to activate the quantum device from the other end.”

Alya gasped with sudden understanding.

“Deke volunteered.”

“That drawer.” Stated Alya. “That’s-”

“All we could find left of him on the Zephyr once it was all over.” Jemma answered. “That tape we used the walkman with is all him. He stole the songs, but that was his voice.”

“I… I don’t believe…”

Her parents didn’t need to be prompted into wrapping her into their arms. They did so, and Alya let them hold her as she shook and cried and mourned.

“Why are you sad?”

The trio turned their heads towards the owner of the little voice, who was standing in the doorway where Alya had caught them. He was fidgeting with his t-shirt again, his brown spiky hair was all tousled and full of mud, and his face was full of such genuine concern that made it look strange upon such a small child’s face.

“Oh, _my little monkey.”_ Alya called, sniffling. “Come here.”

She immediately knelt down and opened her arms out for a confused Deke to run into. Her hands closed around him like a trap that wasn’t going to let go of its prey any time soon. And everyone was fine with that.

“I’m so, _so_ proud of you.” Alya’s voice was muffled by the fact that her face was buried into Deke’s bony chest. 

“We love you very much, sweetie.” Jemma said, planting a kiss on Deke’s free hand. “More than you can ever know.”

Fitz ruffled his already messy hair. “Seriously, you’re the best, Baby Deke.”

“I’m not a baby!” Deke stuck his tongue out at his grandad, satisfied that his family wasn’t sad anymore. “Stop saying baby!”

“You’re right.” Jemma said warmly.

Fitz smiled, linking hands with his wife. “You’re our big Deke now.”

The pair noticed that Alya squeezed their grandson tighter. They shared a knowing look.

Deke grinned widely, the gaps in his teeth becoming more clear. There was an air of innocence around him that neither Jemma nor Fitz had ever gotten the chance to see before.

“Thanks Bobo, thanks Nana. You’re the best too.”

* * *

Leo and Jemma Fitz-Simmons had thought that they’d gotten their happy ending the very second Alya was born. It had been the happiest day of their lives, despite the team being missing, because they were finally a family.

But since they’d completed the mission that they’d been preparing for years, it had felt like something was still missing. They’d lost Enoch. They’d lost Deke.

They didn’t really have time for mourning back then. They had to set up proper lives for themselves. Raise a daughter and actually live normal lives. Still, that void left by those losses felt like it could never be filled.

At least, that was the case until Fitz stumbled upon Owen Shaw.

Meeting Owen brought them hope. He brought the chance of healing the open wound, of mending something that was permanently broken. Or, in their case, permanently stuck in a disastrous reality that he never should have been in.

It had taken many, many years, but Deke Shaw was finally born and with him that void had started to close. Slowly but surely.

The couple had known since his birth that they would have to tell Alya the truth at some point, but time passed quickly and they didn’t know how to proceed. They grew older and older, but so did Deke.

Alya was angry at first, as any mother would be. But after a lot of explaining, she understood. They gave her the power of telling Owen if she wanted to, and she decided against it. For as much as the memory of Deke influenced her son, she wanted him to be his own person.

Or at least, that’s what she told her parents. But they knew her well enough to know that she was just trying to distance him from the orphaned slave as much as she could for the benefit of her own mental health.

Yet, perhaps for some unrelated reason, the rift that had formed between Owen and Deke began to close. Owen grew closer to his son and by some miracle began to treat him in such a kind way that would never be associated with the boisterous Owen Shaw.

Alya herself had grown almost inseparable with her son. She comfortably changed her job to a part-time position in order to be able to spend more time with him. This extra time allowed her to take him to a dietitian to help improve his physical health. Though his ribs were still visible, he was no longer underweight, and that in itself was a huge achievement to Alya.

She’d also grown a lot closer to her parents. Though for a while they’d been distant due to work demands, they ended up visiting a lot more often and having little adventures in the garden. She knew that they needed support, and she wouldn’t hesitate to give it to them. They were her everything. As was Deke.

Deke, as all children do, grew up too fast. One day he was a mischievous five-year-old, the next he was a mischievous nine-year-old. He was considered a genius in his school and did end up moving up a class. Since he still struggled with making friends though, he fell to his grandparents. He never failed to make them laugh, and would boast to his classmates about how cool his Nana and Bobo were. That they used to be spies!

And FitzSimmons? Well, time passed for them too. Also too quickly. They renovated the Deke Drawer into the Deke Shelf. A shelf in a display cabinet filled with little trinkets in the living room, there for all to see.

They knew that, however much time they had left, they didn’t want to spend it keeping secrets or worrying over loose ends. They’d long since dismantled their lab and all prototypes and equipment within it. Their consciences were free. _They_ were free. 

Fitz grew his fabulous grey beard to a ridiculously long length. Jemma convinced him to trim it. This was the sort of adventure they liked now, the sort that involved only laughs and no danger or SHIELD or loss.

And they were happy. They’d had to wait half a century for it, but the universe had gifted them with uninterrupted happiness.

This was their true happy ending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S NOT OVER YET!
> 
> Though this is the end of FitzSimmons' story, there will be 2 EPILOGUE CHAPTERS following this which I think people will be VERY interested in, so please stay tuned!
> 
> I'll say it at the very end and I'll say it here too: THANK YOU SO MUCH!  
> The amount of support I've received on this fic is insane, and every single comment has helped to motivate me to keep on writing. This is the first full fic I've completed, and it never would have happened without you guys. Thank you.


	27. Epilogue (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> beep boop ;)

**.Q.000000073.FS.M.  
D_01.15.1985_2153.  
STATUS:[Online]  
[communication_input]**

“So, um, hi. It’s me. This is attempt seventy-three at getting this stupid thing to work, _blah blah blah,_ etcetera. I, uh… miss you, wish you were here, all the usual stuff. Love you.”

“Maybe you should, perhaps, at least consider giving up? This is, as you said, the seventy-third attempt at a successful communication, and since it is taking up a considerable portion of your time-”

“No. No way. I’m not gonna give up now. I mean, you helped me build it! You’re seriously gonna let all that hard work go to waste?”

“That was not what I was implying. You could, instead, view the problem from a different angle.”

_“Which angle, Enoch?!_ You think I haven’t done that already?! This stupid machine already has too many damn angles!” 

“If you are counting the inner components then there are approximately-”

“Yeah, didn’t mean that literally buddy. But I guess you’re right. Like normal. Ugh... I kinda wish I’d properly thought about this before I- wait, did you hear that?”

“Hear what exactly?”

“D- _there!_ That beeping noise. You heard that, right? I’m not just going insane?”

“I have noticed that you display multiple symptoms of psy-”

“Hold on, _it’s still online!”_

“Oh. It is.”

“It- It’s transmitting fine, recording smoothly, sound quality’s decent so remind me to fix that but… it’s working. It’s _actually_ working!”

“Well done. But I do have to warn you that this technology should not exist on Earth in this time period.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever. Right, Enoch, I’m gonna need you to get out of here. This beautiful thing is finally working and I kinda wanna use it before it blows up or something.”

“Of course.”

“Uh… in private? Alone?”

“Oh, I understand. You wish to record your message alone. Without me. In that case, I will take your leave, Director Shaw.”

“See you, buddy. Right. Now I just gotta press thi-”

**COMMUNICATION_TERMINATED_**

* * *

**.Q.000000074.FS.M.  
D_01.15.1985_2157.  
STATUS:[Online]  
[communication_input]**

“Um… I… *ahem* This is a message for Leopold Fitz and Jemma Simmons. It’s a for-their-ears-only sort of thing, so if you’re not either of them then… uh… stop listening? No! Actually, if you’re _not_ Leopold Fitz or Jemma Simmons, make sure this message gets to them. Please.”

“...I’m guessing this is Fitz or Simmons listening now. Hopefully both. Well, uh… it’s me! It’s Deke! I can’t believe I finally got this thing to work, haha. Uh… yeah.”

“So… you’re probably wondering what’s going on over here. SHIELD got blown up and- oh yeah, you guys were here for that. Or Nana was I think. It’s been a few years, I can’t remember exactly. Gotta adapt, y’know?”

“Speaking of! The second you guys left I might’ve accidentally become director of SHIELD. Which wasn’t my fault! I was nominated! Besides, I don’t know what was _supposed_ to happen so…”

“Right, how am I sending this message. Funny story, actually. A few months after you guys left, Enoch turned up at my mansion and casually asked if he could murder me. Not _our_ Enoch, by the way, this timeline’s Enoch. And he only wanted to kill me because he said I was this _huge_ anomaly in the fabric of the universe and I could potentially doom humanity by just _being here_. Which sounds kind of dramatic, but nothing’s happened so far so I’m guessing we’re in the clear.”

“Basically, I managed to convince him that I was a good guy. I told him everything that happened and showed him my scars and everything to get him to believe me. And he did… eventually. He even helped me to build this quantum processor. Since this side is working now, I’m guessing it’ll work on the other end too. I’ve set it up to be like a mailbox that picks up anything that’s sent from the other end, so you won’t have to do the DNA-gene-splitting thing that I had to do to make sure it found you. You’re welcome.”

“It’s only audio for now. The 80s are great, but the technology sucks. And if we wanted to record video then I wouldn’t be able to buy supplies without getting asked about it. Equipment is _expensive._ Who knew. I’ll try and figure out at least how to send an image because I bet you’re missing my beautiful face.”

“That was the other thing: I miss you guys. It’s strange… I’ve spent most of my life on the Lighthouse and I knew a whole bunch of people there. Then when I came with you guys, sure it felt weird with them not being there, but I never really _missed_ them. Probably because they came from that place.”

“But I miss you every day. Literally, every single day. And I love you. People look up to me here, but I don’t exactly have any family. I’ve got the Deke Squad, I guess, but they’re a different type of family. Not like you two.”

“So um, please send something back whenever you get this. I’ve set it so whenever you send something back, it’ll arrive here straight after I send the message you last listened to. I feel like I’m a time travel master now.”

“So I guess I’ll just… wait here. For your reply. Or just any sort of confirmation that you got this message. I’ll try and send you both a message at least once a week but it’d be great to get something back. I’m looking forward to hearing your voices.”

**COMMUNICATION_TERMINATED_**

* * *

**.Q.000000079.FS.M.  
D_02.15.1985_1623.  
STATUS:[Online]  
[communication_input]**

“Hey Nana and Bobo, it’s me again. Here’s the thing- it’s been a month. It’s been a _whole month_ which is making me think that it’s something on my end. I’ll try and find the problem and fix it since I’d hate for your messages to get lost in that weird void between me and you.”

“But, if I’m gonna be honest, I realised that I don’t actually have any way of knowing if you guys made it back or not. Heck, I don’t even know if you managed to stop the chronicoms. And since I thought of that, I really can’t stop thinking about it, and it would really help if you could just let me know. Doesn’t have to be a whole message, just a yes or a no would do. You could even shout at me and I’d celebrate.”

“Seriously, if you’re all dead then… then I’m the only one alive. Again. I know I’m like 40 years behind you anyway, but it feels like the Lighthouse all over again! I got brought back from that and I felt like I’d cheated the system. Like- Like I didn’t _belong,_ and I got out fine while everyone else stayed there and still had to suffer whatever’s going on up there. And this time I cheated because I’m the one who offered to stay behind and so I’m alive again while you’re all _dead._ I should’ve let Sousa do it, at least then I could’ve died with you.”

“No, no. You might be alive. You’re probably alive. I’m the one who’s… just send me something back. _Please.”_

**COMMUNICATION_TERMINATED_**

* * *

**.Q.000000127.FS.M.  
D_04.13.1985_1829.  
STATUS:[Online]  
[communication_input]**

“Nana, you won’t believe who invited me to a party! _Pegs_ did! She was like, hey, I need you to be a distraction, you’re coming with me. Which is awesome because it’s like the first time she didn’t insult me in a sentence! Yeah… out loud that sounds kinda sad. But it means a lot to me, and I’m pretty sure you were a fan of Pegs or something? Yeah, I’m pretty sure.”

“Anyway, so, we went to this party and she said that since SHIELD is safe enough to be publicly known again I’d need to meet some guy that would help with finances. So we’re at this party, and Pegs takes me up to meet the guy. I promise, all I did was introduce myself (I was actually trying really hard to be serious and polite) and I asked his name and Peggy _lost it._ She literally almost fell onto the floor, she was laughing _that_ hard. Yup, you heard me right. Peggy Carter. _Laughing.”_

“The guy, Harry I think his name was? No, Howard. Yeah, Howard was his name. So this Howard guy looks super offended and asked me if I knew who he was, and I said no because I honestly didn’t, and then Pegs _offered to buy me a drink._ I know! And she didn’t even yell at me for calling her Pegs!”

“So yeah, that happened. Since then she’s been smiling at me? I don’t know what I did, so I thought I’d throw it to you two to see if you had any ideas. You can boast to your friends that your grandson charmed over the great Peggy Carter.”

**COMMUNICATION_TERMINATED_**

* * *

**.Q.000001032.FS.M.  
D_07.12.1988_2306.  
STATUS:[Online]  
[communication_input]**

“Hey Bobo, hey Nana. I’m kinda tired so I’ll keep it short today. The Deke Squad got an award today. It’s funny, I was so busy with SHIELD that I’d forgotten that we had that many fans.”

“Having a double life sounds fun, but trust me it’s _hard._ Ha.”

**COMMUNICATION_TERMINATED_**

* * *

**.Q.000001051.FS.M.  
D_10.22.1988_0642.  
STATUS:[Online]  
[communication_input]**

“I finally finished my first original song! Are you proud of me?”

“Since we won that award, every night I’ve been having visions of Bobo shouting my head off that all I do is steal stuff. So since I’ve been messing with music for so many years, I figured, how hard can it be?”

“...It’s _very_ hard. But! It’s completed, and it feels good that I can at least announce that to someone. Even if those someones can’t answer me back. But that’s fine.”

“The song’s called Alya, and it’s all about family. That was my Mom’s name, by the way. _Alya._ I can’t remember if I ever told you that.”

“If you want songs about you, then you’ll have to let me know, okay? Cool.”

**COMMUNICATION_TERMINATED_**

* * *

**.Q.000001132.FS.M.  
D_11.25.1989_1903.  
STATUS:[Online]  
[communication_input]**

“So, um… Hydra attacked. Big time. We beat them in the end, but we lost a whole bunch of agents. Joe was only nineteen and he told me I was his hero. They shot him in the head, I had to identify his body, and I... And that’s… _that’s on me.”_

“If only I’d taken that shot when Daisy told me to. I could’ve killed Freddy and none of this would’ve happened. I practically killed all those agents and I… Sorry. You don’t wanna hear this kinda stuff.”

**COMMUNICATION_TERMINATED_**

* * *

**.Q.000001193.FS.M.  
D_03.09.1990_1903.  
STATUS:[Online]  
[communication_input]**

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do this anymore. I’m guessing that you aren’t getting these messages so it doesn’t feel as weird to me anymore. And if you are… then I’m sorry you have to hear this. But you’re the only people who I’d want to hear it anyway.”

“Ever since they made me director of SHIELD, I feel like I’ve been faking my way through it. I faked my way through the Lighthouse, I faked my way into money and fame, I faked music for a fake band and I faked knowing how to be a director. I’m just… God, I’m just not cut out for it. People are dying and I can’t stop it. SHIELD needs an _actual_ leader, not a fraud like me.”

“Peggy does a lot, but she’s got her own responsibilities to manage so I get the brunt of it. There’s a few super clever agents that can easily take my place.”

“See, I don’t wanna be director anymore. But if I’m not… I don’t know what I’d do with myself. I don’t have anyone here, I don’t _belong_ here, and I- I’m just nothing when you strip away my lies. And I wish that was an exaggeration.”

“And you know the worst part of it all?! I don’t know whether you guys are even alive! I send you these messages every week and I put my heart and soul into them and they could be just disappearing into nothingness! Then there really is nothing!”

“So… just in case you are listening, I love you. You did so much for me, you gave me a chance when nobody else would. It’s odd saying goodbye to thin air, but hey ho. And if you’re dead, then I guess I’ll see you soo- _WOAH!”_

_“DEKE SHAW YOU LOOK AT ME THIS INSTANT!”_

“Hey- Hey, _Pegs!_ What are you doing here?! G-Get out, this is private, this is _my house_ what are you-”

“Shut your idiotic mouth and hand me that gun.”

“Peggy, I-”

“Hand it over, Deke. _Now.”_

“Fine, here. But listen-”

“No _buts,_ Shaw. Are you out of your mind? What were you thinking?!”

“Director Shaw.”

“Enoch, not you too!”

“Oh. It appears we were just in time.”

“You’re bloody right we were. Thank you, Enoch. You made the right decision coming to find me. Now Deke, you need to talk to me, alright? Whatever’s on your mind. You trust me, don’t y- wait... what _is_ that?”

“This? U-Uh, noth-”

**COMMUNICATION_TERMINATED_**

* * *

**.Q.000001196.FS.M.  
D_03.14.1990_1903.  
STATUS:[Online]  
[communication_input]**

“Pegs and Jarvis took me on a picnic the other day. Honestly, the number of times people thought I was their son was hilarious. It was like ten different people. You should have seen the look on Peggy’s face when this girl asked what it was like being a mom to the _sensation_ that is Deke Shaw. I can’t wait for cellphones.”

“They remind me of you two, y’know. Pegs and Jarvis. You’re all super sweet and smart and determined and kind and they just really remind me of you. Well, if you were both super old.”

“...Don’t tell Peggy I said that.”

**COMMUNICATION_TERMINATED_**

* * *

**.Q.000001872.FS.M.  
D_07.17.1993_1108.  
STATUS:[Online]  
[communication_input]**

“They just invented Zima! I can finally stop pretending to drink! You guys should both drink it in celebration. It’s a big day for me.”

**COMMUNICATION_TERMINATED_**

* * *

**.Q.000001627.FS.M.  
D_12.17.1991_2157.  
STATUS:[Online]  
[communication_input]**

“Howard Stark and his wife got killed last night. Peggy and Jarvis are broken. I didn’t know them that well since he kind of hated me, but I feel really bad for his son.”

“I think I might go pay him a visit. See if I can cheer him up. Trust me, getting orphaned suddenly like that _sucks.”_

**COMMUNICATION_TERMINATED_**

* * *

**.Q.000001873.FS.M.  
D_07.17.1993_2351.  
STATUS:[Online]  
[communication_input]**

“So, um… kinda embarrassing story time. I ordered like 20 crates of Zima, but I couldn’t wait so I went and bought one from the store. And, uh… I couldn’t stomach it. It’s been so long since I actually _drank_ that my body’s given up on me just like everyone else. Which is fine by me, but…”

“Now I don’t know what to do with 20 crates of Zima.”

**COMMUNICATION_TERMINATED_**

* * *

**.Q.000002309.FS.M.  
D_09.12.1995_1342.  
STATUS:[Online]  
[communication_input]**

“So some alien woman crashed into Earth this week. It was a pain to sort out, but I sent Coulson and some guy called Fury on the case. Fury has a cool name, but he’s a bit mean sometimes. I guess it’s fitting.”

“Oh yeah, I recruited Coulson. I decided to steer Mack towards more traditional engineering since I’m guessing he’d get sick of SHIELD. I got May though. It’s weird being older than them all and not being able to say anything.”

“Anyway, apparently the alien woman might be Kree? I hope not. I really, _really_ hope not. ‘Cause if she is… well, something about this whole situation already rubs me off in the wrong way. Just… I didn’t wanna hear the word ‘Kree’ ever again.”

**COMMUNICATION_TERMINATED_**

* * *

**.Q.000003295.FS.M.  
D_05.21.1998_2126.  
STATUS:[Online]  
[communication_input]**

“We broke up the band today. We had a good run. I wish you could’ve seen us perform at least once. Miss you.”

**COMMUNICATION_TERMINATED_**

* * *

**.Q.000003995.FS.M.  
D_01.01.2000_0034.  
STATUS:[Online]  
[communication_input]**

“Happy new year! We’re in the third millennium now so I’m catching up to you! Yeah, I know that’s not how it works, but a boy can dream, right?”

“I tried drinking again but it didn’t work out. Oh well.”

**COMMUNICATION_TERMINATED_**

* * *

**.Q.000005617.FS.M.  
D_11.04.2008_1738.  
STATUS:[Online]  
[communication_input]**

“Little Tony turned into a superhero. Iron Man, they’re calling him. I feel like storming into his house and yelling about how much danger he’s putting himself in. He could get himself killed, and then what’ll I do?!”

“...Is this how you guys feel all the time? I don’t like being the responsible one.”

**COMMUNICATION_TERMINATED_**

* * *

**.Q.000010007.FS.M.  
D_05.30.2012_1519.  
STATUS:[Online]  
[communication_input]**

“Coulson is dead. I- _I killed_ Coulson. There were all these aliens that turned up and we had to try and get the heroes to work together and I asked Coulson and Fury to help a-and that bastard trickster _killed_ h-him. I want to kill him with my bare hands.”

“The heroes teamed up and stopped the invasion. I d-don’t really know why. When I heard about Coulson I just locked myself in. Tony said they fought for _me,_ but that makes no sense.”

“I just… I can’t believe I screwed up so badly. Coulson was supposed to have a good few years ahead of him! H-He was supposed to bring the team together! I’m too old for that now, and I’ve messed up. I’m s-so sorry, but I… _Coulson’s dead.”_

**COMMUNICATION_TERMINATED_**

* * *

**.Q.000010015.FS.M.  
D_06.22.2012_1712.  
STATUS:[Online]  
[communication_input]**

“I’ve decided to retire from SHIELD. I really, really can’t do this anymore. Besides, I can barely sit up straight. Fury can take over. I just need time to think.”

**COMMUNICATION_TERMINATED_**

* * *

**.Q.000132907.FS.M.  
D_01.16.2059_1712.  
STATUS:[Online]  
[communication_input]**

“Getting old is such a pain, right? Dr Dunphy said my time’s starting to close in on me now, and that just sounds so weird to me. All my life I’ve been hopping through time and death just felt so distant. Like I was immortal or something.”

“Guess we know that’s not true.”

“Now’s as good a time as any to surprise you, then. Back when I first met Enoch, we built an LMD version of me. Surprise!”

“Ha, bet you’re not that surprised, are you. Especially you, Bobo. This quantum bridge is just about strong enough to let one person through. Only problem is that once that happens, there’s no chance of communication from either way. And plus I was running SHIELD back then, so I didn’t get the chance to get back.”

“So when I do kick the bucket, Enoch will switch it on and help me get to you. I know it’s a bad thing to say but… I’m really excited to die.”

**COMMUNICATION_TERMINATED_**

* * *

**.Q.000138056.FS.M.  
D_04.01.2061_0932.  
STATUS:[Online]  
[communication_input]**

_“Happy birthday to me… h-happy birthday to me… happy birthday dear De-eke, happy birthday to… to you.”_

“I hope… I hope he has a better life than I had. Give Mom and Dad a hug from me. Do you think… _my_ Mom and Dad will be there once I go? Does the afterlife have timelines? Ha…”

**COMMUNICATION_TERMINATED_**

* * *

**.Q.000138058.FS.M.  
D_04.05.2061_1002.  
STATUS:[Online]  
[communication_input]**

“Enoch asked me whether… whether I wanted my life memories or just my… 1985 memories. I don’t want that version o-of me to have all these memories. I don’t want h-him to know he _k-killed Coulson…”_

_“Calm down, Mr Shaw. Try and make sense for your memoir, okay?”_

“B-But then I wouldn’t be able to tell you the stories. There’s so many stories I want to tell you, so… he’ll use these memories. There were good times too.”

“I c-can’t wait to see you, Nana, Bobo. See you soon.”

**COMMUNICATION_TERMINATED_**

* * *

.Q.000138059.FS.M.  
D_04.10.2061_1425.  
STATUS:[Online]  
[communication_input]

“Hello, Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons. My name is Enoch. I am a sentient chronicom from a planet that revolves around a star in the constellation you know as Cygnus. I regret to inform you that your grandson, aged 107, passed away this morning.

“As per his final request, I have sent an LMD version of Deke Shaw to what I believe is your timeline somewhere within a 10-mile radius of your location.”

“Goodbye.”

**COMMUNICATION_TERMINATED_**

**STATUS:[Offline]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One chapter to go.
> 
> Warning: There will be a very bittersweet ending.


	28. Epilogue (2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> LMDeke goes on a mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are.
> 
> A final reminder of my Tumblr accounts:  
> @alittlesliceofcucumber for fandom posts.  
> @the-hidden-writer for stories and updates.

Cows. He’s back in the ‘right’ timeline and the first things he sees are _cows._

He never liked cows. Sheep he could deal with. Dogs? He loved them! Sheepdogs? He’d never actually seen one before, but according to common sense he should love them, right?

But no, he _had_ to land in a huge sloped field full of those big burly beasts. At least they sort of resembled sheep with their long brown fur that seemed to cover their eyes. Someone really needed to give those cows a haircut.

It took him almost a whole hour to orientate himself with his surroundings. Since the transportation device he’d just used had never actually been tested before, there were a few unpleasant side effects.

The main side effect that Deke came across was that he’d lost most of the feeling in his limbs. It was only towards the end of that hour did he remember that he was a robot. Huh.

After finally gathering up the courage to move and checking his pockets for the generous amount of money he’d brought with him, he stumbled his way down the hill to the quaint little farmhouse at the bottom. It didn’t take much effort to convince the friendly farmer that he was just an airheaded traveler who’d lost his way. He even managed to persuade her to give him a ride into the nearest city. Which, as it turned out to be, was Inverness. As in, _Scotland._

Honestly, the accent should have given it away.

She was kind enough to just drop him off on the outskirts of the city. As much as he wanted to visit Loch Ness, he had a much more important place to visit. 

He was too self-conscious to ask anyone what year it was. In his timeline (not technically _his,_ but the one where he’d ended up living most of his life) he wouldn’t think twice about asking a random stranger even the stupidest of questions. But he didn’t belong here, he technically really shouldn’t be here is what Enoch had said, and so he had to try and avoid bringing too much attention to himself at all costs.

That, and the fact that he wanted to make a good first impression.

But that left him with the problem of not knowing what year it was. Honestly, they should at least display the online newspapers in store windows! The device had been programmed to take him to whenever and wherever the majority of his DNA was concentrated into a small area so that he’d hopefully get to see his grandparents together. He’d hate to arrive and there to be only one of them, or worse, none at all.

And since he’d made it to Scotland, he had a glimmer of hope that it had worked and that they were both still alive.

Asking around a little (he’d given up on trying not to), nobody seemed to recognize the names Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons. But more than one person asked him if he meant Alya Fitz-Simmons who was apparently a very famous person within the city. That most certainly caught his attention. And after another painful two hours of asking random people, one elderly woman eventually gave him an address as well as a message to pass on _(“Tell them that Elaine says hello.”)_

He hailed the closest taxi he could find and practically screamed the address into the poor driver’s ear. The journey felt like it dragged on for hours. And still, somehow, it was over too quickly. The driver pulled into an estate that seemed to be a village of its own. Deke paid him and asked if he could stop a little further away and just show him which of the houses he needed to head to. 

Once his feet touched the dusty old road, Deke felt like his metal knees would just collapse from under him. It was a straight path from where he stood to his destination.

It was the most homely, picturesque cottage he’d ever seen. There was a small wooden gate that led to the ivy-covered stone building, and there was a relatively wide area surrounding it that was protected by tall bushes. The section of the garden he could see through the arched entrance was filled with various species of vibrant flowers and bonsai trees. Next to the house, peeking over the top of the bushes, was a strong Acer tree that stood proud against the sky.

It was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen, and he hadn’t expected anything less.

He dragged his feet closer. One foot in front of the other. He was glad he didn’t need to breathe because there was no way he would have been able to at that moment.

It was only a few feet away. He suddenly broke into a run, half-prepared to break down their door but then his ears caught-

_“Bobo! Nana, Bobo, look at me!”_

He screeched to a halt. Though he knew it should be impossible, his heart still felt like it had been ripped out of his chest. It still felt like blood was pounding in his ears. It felt like his vision was blurred and his head was spinning. 

It couldn’t be-

_“You’re doing great, sweetie!”_

That was _his Nana’s_ voice. Jemma Simmons. Nana!

He quickly retreated to behind the bushes and resorted to pulling apart some of the sharp twigs (he needed to get used to the fact that it didn’t hurt) in order to peek into the front garden.

There… there was his Nana. His Nana looked like how he vaguely first remembered her- her hair grey and neatly tied in a bun with a pair of glasses hanging around her neck by a chain. She was sitting on a tartan armchair with her hand help up as if shielding her eyes from something. Next to her was-

_“Get down from there! You’ll fall off and break your leg and I’m not gonna make that trip to the hospital.”_

Bobo. Fitz. His usual, grumpy self with his itchy sweater and long beard. Deke felt a memory be unlocked when he caught sight of the walking stick beside his Bobo’s chair. Fitz had his phone in his hand but was glaring a little boy that was wobbling dangerously on a branch of that magnificent Acer tree.

In a flash, someone jumped up to catch him before he could fall.

_“That’s enough of that for one day, little dude.”_

Dad! His Dad, in all of his blonde glory. He looked a lot happier and healthier than what Deke remembered.

And if Dad was there, then…

_“Play on the ground now Deke, okay?”_

Deke felt himself choke up.

_Mom._

She looked exactly like he remembered her, but there was one major difference. She was _laughing._ She was laughing and smiling and she was _happy._

It was the first time he’d ever seen his mother truly happy.

“Okay.” Said the boy, and only then did it hit him what his Mom had just said.

She’d called the boy _Deke._

Despite his family being right there, Deke felt his eyes wandering towards the boy that had begun to chase a white butterfly that was flying around the garden.

Untamable brown hair. A scarily familiar spindly frame. Mischief shining on his baby face, as well as complete and utter adoration of the adults around him that was matched tenfold by said adults.

Doubt began to creep into his mind so intensely that he almost missed it when the boy, _himself,_ turned in his direction.

Only then did Deke realize that he’d been shaking that entire time.

Green eyes met green eyes. One pair was full of trauma and survivor’s guilt, and the other of pure childhood innocence and curiosity.

Deke had never exactly seen a picture of himself when he was younger and had no idea what he would look like, but he was pretty sure that he never had the chance to have that sort of perfect childhood. He’d seen too much. The envelope containing many USB sticks filled with voice messages and pictures suddenly felt extremely heavy in his pocket.

That’s when he made the decision.

The second he noticed the tiny version of himself open his mouth, he turned and ran, not caring that the bushes noticeably rustled behind him, scaring a bird.

A robin. How fitting.

As the voices that he’d yearned to hear for years became distant, Deke finally stopped running.

There was no way he could show himself to that family. They were all happy together in the way that it was _supposed_ to happen... Yes, he was jealous of himself, who wouldn’t be?

The last time he saw his Mom alive was the seconds before she was killed in front of him. The last time he saw his Dad was when he was being dragged, kicking and screaming, to his death sentence while Deke shrieked at him that he should’ve just listened and given up hope. 

And his grandparents… he didn’t even get the chance to say goodbye either time.

The people he had just seen in the garden were Alya Fitz-Simmons, Owen Shaw, Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons joyfully playing with Deke Shaw. They belonged to that version of him, not himself. 

People regularly called him selfish, so is it still selfishness if you’re doing something for the benefit of an alternate version of yourself?

Little Deke Shaw should live a normal existence. The life that Deke had often found himself begging for. A life without a weird future-past-adult version of himself intruding.

...He might go visit Loch Ness after all.

Pulling out that damned white envelope, Deke smiled through his pain.

He pulled out a pen from his backpack and scribbled on it.

_“Elaine says hi.”_

Before he went on a Loch Ness Monster hunt... he had a delivery to make.

**[THE_END_]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all of the support on this story! Especially to the regular commenters, I'm genuinely going to miss reading your lovely comments in the mornings! 
> 
> This story is now complete. The ending is purposefully open-ended because I want people to end with whatever pleases them. Whether LMDeke stays away or changes his mind is completely up to you! 
> 
> There were plans for a sequel that involved LMDeke meeting Baby Deke, but it was very angsty and I don't think I'll write it now. If anyone wants to write their own sequel then you have my blessing as long as you credit me and this fic!
> 
> Thank you again for the comments and kudos, and thank you for reading. ❤
> 
> ~ Alia

**Author's Note:**

> Comments make my day! :D


End file.
